24 Season 10: God's Country (semi- future AU)
by Cole Ortiz
Summary: Jack Bauer has returned to the US. On a private security contract protecting a controversial businessman turned evangelist, Jack uncovers a deadly terror plot. Set on the American homefront, God's Country is a thrilling tale of conspiracy, revenge, and possible redemption.
1. Episode 1: 11 AM - 12 PM

NOTE: This is set after "Live Another Day" with the assumption that Jack, Audrey, President Heller, and Tanner all survive and are able to return home to the U.S. It pays homage to all the past seasons but puts a spin on things.

I have two other fanfics written under the name "Tom Lennox" and I no longer have the email and password on that account but those were written years ago and based on the SEASON 5 finale (which ended with Jack on the ship headed to China). Its worth mentioning since "Season 6 Europe" is actually set half in London (as well as in Paris). Season 7: Dark Forces which comes after Season 6 Europe is my masterpiece and a top story back on the old 24 boards. This many years later I'm back to writing again. The beginning of Season 6 Europe is a little rusty but I really get in the gist of it around episode 5 or 6 and that style continues to Dark Forces and on to this season.

CAST

Kiefer Sutherland – Jack Bauer, Private Security Contractor, former CTU agent

Mary Lynn Rajskub – Chloe O'Brien, CTU analyst, CTU Southeast Division

Samuel L. Jackson – Aaron Bailey, Director of CTU Southeast Division

Billy Bob Thornton – Pastor Clay Guthrie

Jennifer Lawrence – Rebekah Guthrie, daughter of Clay

Sung Kang – Andy Kim, police instructor and fiancée to Rebekah Guthrie

John Boyega – Chris Tanner, CTU drone pilot

William Devane – President James Heller

Kim Raver – Audrey Heller, President's Chief of Staff

Chris Dimantopulous – Rob Weiss, National Security Advisor

Ashley Judd – Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee

Liam Neeson – Randy Jones

Sean Bosworth – Travis McKenna

Dolph Lundgren – Mikhail Vikov

Rutger Hauer – Vadim Gorochev

Ilia Volok – Boris Stravinsky

Logan Marshall-Green – Jay Cooper

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 11 AM AND 12 PM EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME

CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA – 2 YEARS AFTER LIVE ANOTHER DAY

The screen opens up with a shot of a verdant hillside in the bright summer sun with scattered homes and business parks of various types on it as the camera moves up and forward. The camera goes over the ridge and we see the golden dome of the State Capitol on the banks of the shimmering Kanawha River. The camera pans to the right and we see downtown Charleston in the distance.

A radio DJ talks in the opening scene and as the screen splits into four. "Traffic is running smoothly again on Tyler Mountain Road in Cross Lanes after authorities have cleared the tractor trailer crash from the roadway. Still moving slow southbound on Interstate 77 near the Edens Fork exit as the bridge upgrade continues…"

Split screens show a coal train speeding down the tracks, a shot of the I-77/I-64 freeway interchange and the WV Lottery building from the air, a man jogging along the riverbank, and a van turning from a street into a parking garage downtown. The camera pans in on the paved riverfront path and see it is JACK BAUER. Jack starts jogging up the steps and starts following Greenbrier Street past the state capitol complex. Several people including a police officer nod and wave at him and Jack acknowledges them.

"Now for the weather it's is 87 degrees right now in the capital city, 88 in Huntington and 81 in Beckley, you are listening to 97.5 WQBE, the Rabbit Station." The song "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" by Jake Owen starts to play as the camera shifts to the van. The screen splits in two to show an up-close view of Charleston's downtown high-rises most notably the SunTrust Bank and Huntington Bank towers.

Two Eastern European men get out of the van and open up the back doors of the vehicle. "I hate this American music," the driver says in Russian as subtitles flash across the screen, "I hate this fucking country. I hate being here." The passenger responds as the van comes to a stop inside a parking garage. "Da, I too would rather be in Donetsk killing Ukrainians, but without Suvarov in power, Moscow will not send us the money and weapons we need for victory. What we do here today is critical for our people." We see the dead bodies of two other men in the back with bulletholes through their foreheads. "The two ethnic Russians enter the marble lobby of a modern office building

A female security guard whose uniform identifies her as Linda smiles as she greets them. "Another replacement?"

"Unfortunately yes," the first man. "My name is Vadim and this is my friend Mikhail. We're here to run the maintenance for the IT servers in Suite 1024. Need to make sure the connections with Ripley are in place. Clarkson Law Office, if I recall correctly ma'am."

"Go ahead and sign here please. Are they expecting you?"

"Yes, of course. Mr. Clarkson knows we are coming," Vadim replies in his Russian accent.

The elevator reaches the 10th floor of the building and the two men walk down a short corridor through some glass French doors to a law office. A secretary is just getting her desk ready when the door opens.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but Mr. Clarkson's not quite ready yet. You have an appointment?" Mikhail takes out a silenced pistol and shoots the secretary three times in the chest and once in the forehead. She collapses back into her chair with papers flying in the air. "I am making one now, suka yebat." A young male intern comes out of one of the offices and stops in his tracks at the two armed men standing in the office. There is a rustling noise as a young partner tries to run down to another exit. Mikhail raises his pistols and fires two bullets into the man's back and he falls down dead, his body sliding for several feet before hitting a file cabinet.

"You will do exactly as we tell you," Vadim says, "If you want to see tomorrow. Is that understood?" He nods at the secretary's body. "This is what happens if you resist. Now where is Mr. Clarkson? Take us to him."

The young man nods nervously as Justin locks the front door to the office suite. They go down an interior hallway and he knocks on the door of a corner office. "Mr. Clarkson, the IT folks are here early, they…"

We see the attorney Clarkson in his office putting down his copy of the Charleston Daily Mail. "Hmmm, unusual for them to come early," he says to himself, "Hopefully they send more competent guys this time. The ones last time might as well work for the goddamn government." He opens the door and sees the intern there. Suddenly Mikhail shoves the intern into the room and closes the door and pulls his gun out.

"Pardon me," Mikhail says in his Russian accent, "Mr. Clarkson, for this unexpected visit. Your secretary was not willing to make me an appointment on short notice. She is no longer around to change her mind."

"What is this? Who the hell are you two? What the hell did y'all do to Chrissie? She's my friend's daughter! Oh my God, you…." Mikhail presses the hot muzzle of his pistol into Clarkson's chest as Vadim holds the young intern at gunpoint and "Mr. Clarkson, you will give me full access to your files. He pulls out a PDA with a connecting cable and types some commands into a software program. "Especially these." The screen shows logos of two different companies. "You will call to security, you will cancel all your appointments for the rest of the morning, and your will tell the rest of your staff not to come into work, or this young man will die just like ones we have already killed outside." Mikhail takes out his phone and says something in Russian before hanging up.

Vadim waves the gun around. "We do not want any unnecessary killing. But we are willing to kill for what we came for. I hope you are not willing to die for it."

REVELATIONS CHURCH

We see a large, sprawling modern building with a large parking lot around it. Kanawha County Police vehicles in a split screen are shown as officers respond to a protest march with a few dozen people. The protestors carry pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, and anti-capitalist signs including a sign that says "God is Fake, We Are Real". We see images of Che Guevara and Adrian Cross. They are cursing and throwing objects at the police. We see a counterprotest nearby. There are many American flags in this crowd as well as Christian symbols and signs, rebel flags, and tea party flags. There are also bloody photographs of aborted children. This crowd is protesting peacefully. The screen splits again and we see a man from behind as he jogs along a wooded path leading toward the church parking lot. Finally we are inside the large worship hall of the church which has the pulpit on a large stage. The congregation is singing "Who Am I" by Casting Crowns, a contemporary Christian music band.

The senior pastor, Clay Guthrie, steps into a side room next to the stage and nods to the worship leader, motioning it will be quick. He pulls out his iPhone and speed dials a number

CLARKSBURG BUSINESS PARK, CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA

We hear the phone ringing and we see Rebekah Guthrie checking her makeup in her Honda Civic as her phone continues to ring. The caller ID says "DAD". Rebekah grabs the phone as she steps out of the car in a large parking lot in front of a large, modern office park with a fountain. A split screen shows a sign for "Nylund Pharmaceuticals" at the entrance to the corporate campus.

"Yes dad?" she says in a very annoyed tone. Rebekah has an air of extreme confidence bordering on arrogance as she walks in quick strides across the parking lot. She has a very yuppie appearance in a business suit. "Guess you still got time to lecture me on your big day, your hour of fame where you embarrass yourself in front of the whole country."

Clay walks along the backstage area behind the pulpit. He ignores her comment. "I called you three times in the past half hour, why didn't you answer?"

"Well its illegal to talk on your goddamn cell phone when you're driving. What you people call nanny state is actually smart policy and the police up here actually enforce it. And no…"

"Please DO NOT use the Lord's name in vain again in my presence," Clay says, gripping the phone tight, "And I implore you to…."

"I've made up my mind about going through with this interview," Rebekah says, "And you know what, this company actually improves the lives of Americans and whatever you say about the blood on their hands, that's your perspective, while the blood on your own hands is common accepted as fact."

"Reb, please help me understand what happened to you. Before she died your mother warned me about how Morgantown would change you but you don't need to do this. I pray for you every day. I need to get back to the service soon but…" The screen shows him checking the time on his cell phone, "What you're doing is wrong, and it breaks my heart that you're going down this path. You mother is watching from heaven today, and I know she's disappointed in you. Your beliefs are not worth destroying this family over."

Rebekah scoffs. "YOU are the one making me embarrassed for our family, as if everything you've done can….can just be washed away. And you never went to church when I was growing up anyway, and now that you decided to start thumping your Bible as it that undos your sins I'm supposed to follow suit? Well news flash, this is MY life. You can't stop me from doing this any more than I can stop you from speaking at that convention tonight. Now if you would excuse me, I have to go in."

Rebekah puts away her phone and her expression changes into a smile as she goes through the rotating doors into the office building.

REVELATIONS CHURCH OFFICES

We see a Fox News reporter on a computer screen standing in front of the ocean. "Security is tight here in Myrtle Beach as delegates from across the country arrive for the Democratic National Convention. While Elijah Cummings, Husayn Osana and others from the Black Caucus are staying true to their boycott and reiterating their opposition to the holding of the convention here in South Carolina. However what's truly making waves is the announcement that nationally renowned businessman turned evangelist Clay Guthrie will be making an appearance tonight as the convention seeks a unified stance on several provisions on the national healthcare mandates. Five years ago Guthrie became senior pastor at Revelations Church, a non-denominational evangelical megachurch in Charleston, West Virginia after a ten year tenure as the President and CEO of Omega Appalachian Resources….. "

A door opens and Jack Bauer walks into an office with lots of security cameras and high-tech equipment as well as a weapons closet. He has changed out of his workout clothes. Cole Ortiz is there too in a CTU uniform. There is a logo for Vanguard Protection Services on Jack's jacket and on some of the computer screens in the room. Another private security contractor, Mark Hayes, is looking at a computer news feed. The headlines read "Democrat National Convention Under Way in Myrtle Beach, Several Lawmakers Boycott, Controversial Health Bylaws Proposed."

"Anything new here?" Jack asks.

"Just the usual hate mail from all over the country, just the typical ranting. You know it might be refreshing to get the praise letters for the good pastor but guess that ain't our job description," Mark says. "Mix of pro-abortion folks and some people still fixated on Clay's company stuff in the past. More protest letters from the unions."

Jack then turns to Cole. "What about you, Cole? Anything to add? Anything else you can do besides being a typical government jerkoff and telling me how to do my job?" Jack sees Cole's shocked expression and softens up a bit. "I'm sorry, it's not personal. I appreciate what you did for me before I had to leave the country."

"I also wish we met again under different circumstances, but trust me you rather deal with me than most of the people at my office. Off the record these changes have been ridiculous."

"So why you, why here?"

"As you probably recall, West Virginia used to be under the jurisdiction of the Louisville and Pittsburgh branches until they were shut down by Congress along with the other domestic branches. Pittsburgh itself is now under CTU – New York. But the Pittsburgh director was real tight with Congress so they moved me and Chloe to Southeast Division to open a spot for him in New York."

The screen splits as Cole ads, "At least now you're hooked back into CTU with full access through me and Chloe. And if you're asking for updates, we've been tracking a number of groups with a beef against Guthrie for both present and past issues. Police in Lincoln County are questioning some radical environmentalists from Chicago . A hodgepodge of radical groups on the left have all been emboldened by the change in Congressional leadership." Another screen shows Clay stepping up to the pulpit and beginning a sermon, Mikhail and Vadim holding the attorneys at gunpoint and accessing a room with a large mainframe computer and typing commands into it.

OMEGA RESOURCES FACILITY, CATLETTSBURG, KENTUCKY

Two Toyota pickup trucks are seen pulling off a main highway and speeding down a private road into a parking lot. The driver, Jay Cooper is speaking into a phone confirming some orders with a superior, then hangs up and shouts to the men in the back of his truck as well as the ones in the other pickup truck. They are wearing regular clothing except some of the men have bright bandanas. All the men are carrying weapons. They approach a major facility containing a coal processing plant, a railyard with coal trains, and a port facility on the Ohio River where coal loaded onto barges pulled by tugboats. Jay's men open fire on the guard station at the gate, mowing down four security guards in a hail of automatic gunfire. Jay drives his truck along the rail line where many workers are congregated. He and his men point their guns out of the windows and continue opening fire. A large group of men try to flee for shelter but are shot in the back, blood and guts flying everywhere as panic ensues.

The other pickup truck spins into the parking lot of the OAR offices, a two story building. This was on the far end of the property near the loading pier and evidently the people on a smoke break or eating snacks outside the building did not hear the gunfire.

"Whoa there fellas, y'all seem to be in a hurry. Here to see someone?" an employee asks as he tosses a cigarette to the side. The armed men get out of the truck and the worker gasps "What the….." His chest explodes in a shower of blood as multiple rounds of automatic gunfire tear into his body. The other gunmen fire in an arc and within 10 seconds all the company employees outside the building are dead. The screen splits showing one group of terrorists going into the offices and another approaching a coal barge and tugboat. Jay shoots and kills a man on the pier, his body falling into the river with a splash, turning the water red. Then Jay and his men enter the boat and slaughter everyone on board. He has a look of cold determination mixed with some pleasure at the killing.

"Check the boat again, make sure everyone's dead," Jay says as they hear police sirens approaching. Another split screen shows Boyd County sheriff's department vehicles driving along Interstate 64 as well as more police cars driving across the Ashland-Ironton bridge. Jay checks his cell phone and then pulls out another phone that serves as a detonator as we see a line of police cars entering the property along a wooded gravel road from a secondary entrance. Jay smiles and pushes the detonator. A large fireball rises into the sky swallowing up seven police cars and flipping several others. Injured police officers are crawling out from the cars as their colleagues try to secure the area. In a split screen, Jay's men enter the main office on the property and riddle it with gunfire, dozens of unarmed men and women getting cut down by bullets. Sparks are flying from broken computer screens and bulletholes pocket the walls and the windows shatter in the merciless hail of gunfire.

CTU SOUTHEAST DIVISION, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

There is a quick establishing shot of Charleston, South Carolina including the Arthur Ravenel Bridge spanning the Cooper River with the city and marshlands visible, plus a split screen showing Fort Sumter and a large military base with US Navy vessels docked alongside a long pier.

"Aaron? Aaron!" Chloe O'Brian shouts and motions. In classic CTU design, the director's office is elevated above the main floor. Unlike CTU Los Angeles or New York there are windows to the outside and we see the treeline. In a split screen we see the building housing CTU, a federal building inside Joint Base Charleston, a Navy and Air Force base. CTU Director Aaron Bailey comes out of his office.

"Yes Chloe? I hope this is an actual emergency, and not you panicking over how our new software is programmed," he says.

Chloe is even more impatient now. "There's no need to get smart with me, Aaron. We've got a serious situation in Kentucky." she says, bringing up a map to the main screen which shows the Charleston-Huntington corridor, then zooms west to the Huntington-Tristate area where West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio meet. "This is going on live, 911 dispatch filled with reports of a mass shooting, they're saying dozens dead, then reports less than a minute ago about police arriving on scene ambushed by an explosion."

"Tanner," Bailey says, the screen showing Chris Tanner at the controls of a CTU drone, "Where's our nearest drone? I need aerial."

"Currently over Louisville we can have it over Catlettsburg in ten minutes. For now we got the satellite feed for what its worth, sir."

"Okay, do that ASAP and patch me through to the police on the scene and their station."

"Got it," a techie says.

OMEGA FACILITY

"Sheriff this is Aaron Bailey, Director of CTU we're also on with your main station what is going on there?"

"We're pinned down," the Sheriff says trying to not speak too loud. We hear the attackers shouting in the distance and intermittent sprays of gunfire.

"Have your men shelter in place," Bailey says, "We have an armed drone approaching the area ETA ten minutes. We also have air units from police in all three states heading to you."

"We'll be dead by then!" the Sheriff exclaims. Another pickup truck is seen screeching to a halt, kicking up plenty of dust on the gravel road. Several more armed gunmen pour out holding automatic weapons and engaging the police. The Sheriff lowers himself behind his car as bullets strike the windows and doors of the police cruiser. Bullets hit the tires and ricochet off the car. A sheriff's deputy is injured. The deputy reaches outside the car and fires while the sheriff does the same. A hostile is shot through the heart and falls back dying. The sheriff then grabs a shotgun from the police car and fires again. The shotgun round tear a terrorist apart with blood flying and strike a second terrorist, killing him too. The deputy shoots down another hostile but more are coming.

Jay Cooper pulls a pin off a grenade and fires it at the police lines. An officer tries to outrun the grenade but is killed in the explosion, bringing down clumps of trees and sending leaves flying everywhere.

AIBRORNE OVER THE OHIO-KENTUCKY BORDER

We then see an Ohio State Police helicopter flying above the Ohio River at Ironton, and Catlettsburg's refineries and steel mills visible ahead. Two police gunners are leaning out of the open door to the chopper as it flies flow over the water, just above the roadbed of the Ironton Bridge. "This is Lieutenant Taylor Cox, Ohio State Police, we have a visual on the facility," the helicopter pilot says. Suddenly there is a whoosh and the contrails of a launched rocket is seen. "Dammmit!" a crewman says. "We've been engaged, we have a rocket heading in our direction. Repeat, the hostiles are armed with surface to air weaponry." In a split screen we see Aaron Bailey looking at his staff in shock.

The helicopter banks to the right and the rocket narrowly misses it, hitting a rocky cliff on the Ohio side of the river, sending rocks crashing down into the valley below. "Bring her up!" the pilot says. The machine guns are locked and loaded as the helicopter heads up. Two more rockets are launched from the facility but the aim is more difficult as the helicopter is at an higher altitude. The chopper is now directly above the facility and we see dead bodies sprawled below everywhere.

The helicopter is forced to reduce altitude to engage the hostiles on the ground. The police gunners shoot and kill several of the hostiles. The man with the rocket launcher whips it around and takes aim at the chopper. "Turn back!" the co-pilot tells as the gunners squeeze off some extra shots. Despite the quick turn the rocket scrapes the tail of the chopper. The explosion doesn't reach the police but the tail starts to come loose and catch fire. However the gunner was able to fire a long burst at the attacker with the launcher. His body is torn into pieces as blood flies all around. The chopper goes into a spin and around thirty feet over the river, the pilot and all the officers jump out. The empty burning aircraft crashes into the water and there is a small explosion and a large jet of water shooting up into the air.

SISSONVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA

Female news anchor on WVAH-11, the local Fox affiliate: "…..from Revelations Church was invited to the Democrat National Convention by West Virginia Representative John Rezierski, who himself has come under attack from the national party leaders due to his differing views not only on religious issues but on the Illegal Alien Dream Act and the redistribution of rural gas tax revenue toward urban mass transit projects, a major focus of the party on the national level. Rezierski, who represents the 3rd Congressional district, is the only remaining West Virginia Democrat in Washington in a political shift continuing here despite the national outrage over Allison Taylor ….."

The audio fades on the TV and we hear the radio station playing as we see the inside of the diner with lots quirky decorations and a traditional Southern country décor. We hear the music playing as a waitress in her late teens comes out of the kitchen with a large glass of sweet tea.

Danielle Bradbery on the radio: "…driving so far away nobody's gonna find her, flyin' just fast enough to leave it all behind her, but she didn't know till she hit the road, deep in her soul, she's got the fire and the fight of a Gypsy, ain't nothing stronger than the heart of Dixie….."

"Here's your sweet tea, Randy," she says with a familiar smile and a noticeable twang. "Sorry for the wait. Miss Margaret's having another one of them lunch meetings and they ordered twenty meals to go. So how's it been? Haven't see ya in a couple weeks."

"Well it's going. Just a lot of things I've had to deal with," he tells her. "I'm…..I'm going to get the fried bologna sandwich, plus a hot dog with chili and cole slaw."

She nods as she writes it down. "Hey that's a first for you! Never seen you order that before. We do sell lots of those."

Randy pauses for a little and says in a somber tone, "It's…..its in memory of my sons. They always liked to get those, they had a favorite place in Beckley. They're both passed away several years ago."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," Stacy says sympathetically. "I can pray with you if you need it." We see that the she's wearing a beautiful golden cross necklace.

"I'll be okay," Randy says. "Spiritual, not religious, remember?" He gives her a wink to lighten the mood. "But thanks anyway."

OMEGA TRANSSHIPMENT CENTER

"Sheriff, we're looking at you on satellite right now there are over 20 men and they are approaching your position, you need to fall back….."

Suddenly gunfire rings out. "Tanner, can you aim the drone at that range?" A split screen shows a small drone flying through the clouds with the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky zipping by below. "Not a clear shot but we can scatter the hostiles."

"Go for it, do not, I repeat do NOT fire anywhere close to the structure we may have civilians inside, not the boat but send the missile against the hostiles!" Bailey orders Tanner.

We see Jay on the ground urging his men forward. Several wounded cops are calling for backup, some badly burned and dying. Jay emerges from the woods and comes upon a group of injured officers trying to crawl away. He shoots each of them in the chest or head one by one, their bodies slumping over dead. There is a whoosh and a rocket lands in the woods behind Jay, sending several of the terrorists into the air but the Sheriff is also blown by the impact, his head slamming against his overturned police cruiser.

Jay recovers and walks over to the sheriff who has blood coming out of his mouth.

"You crazy, sick, bastard," the sheriff makes out. Jay shoots him in the shoulder and leg, the sheriff grunting in pain. Jay gives him a self-righteous smirk and laughs.

"Oh no, you corrupt pig, I'm not sick or crazy. That would be some disgruntled employee or some wacko who got picked on too much in high school." He is savoring the moment. "Those people kill just for the heck of it. We actually kill for legitimate reasons, not that you'll get to find out. End of watch motherfucker." He then fires a long burst of gunfire into the sheriff's body, pinning it against the car before it falls forward. The sheriff gasps and dies facedown in a pool of blood. Then another rocket lands right next to Jay as he makes his way into the woods. Then there is quiet except for the burning buildings, trees, and vehicles then the sounds of more sirens and a helicopter appear in the distance.

…11:57…11:58…..11:59…..12:00.


	2. Episode 2: 12 PM - 1 PM

AUTHORS NOTE: This season MAY have up to 24 episodes or it might be shorter like Live Another Day where some hours are skipped. I am leaning toward the latter but hope y'all enjoy it so far. Please post feedback!

I appear as a character in this story and play a major role in the plot. I won't say which character this is or even if he/she is named yet but I WILL say that this character is introduced in the first 4 episodes which is the classic two-night double premiere we were all used to before.

Jack will appear a LOT more after this chapter. The first two were to set the scene and introduce a lot of my new characters. I hope you like the new characters as I'm trying to go with more multi-dimensional ones compared to my past stories. Also as y'all might notice there are several groups of villains and while the rest of this season IS planned out, I think it's interesting to see the interrelationships between the antagonists since it's not as simple as one working for another or having a single big bad pulling the strings. You will see!

And a final note I know some of y'all might not like how this story has a political bias but so does Hollywood. Also this is NOT a "Christian fiction" tale, far from it despite the fact that some characters are religious. And in case you're wondering why there is a church service on a Friday morning, its a special event because of Guthrie's upcoming speech at the national convention being held that night.

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 12 PM AND 1 PM

CTU

The scene opens in CTU as the screens show clouds of thick black smoke billowing into the air and the mangled line of police cars at the coal transshipment center. A split screen shows the coal tugboat exploding sending flaming wreckage splashing into the Ohio River.

"Chloe," Bailey says, "Did you get that voice?"

"Yeah. I'm placing it through the known databases of known and suspected terrorists."

"Good, I want to know as soon as you find something. Melanie, what was the target? We didn't need that piece of shit to tell us this isn't just workplace violence."

A young female analyst, Melanie Andrews, pulls up some data onto the screen showing a satellite view of the facility prior to the chaos there. "Sir, that's a major coal transshipment point run by a company named OAR….Omega Appalachian Resources."

"Never heard of them before, why there? Gotta be something more to this," Tanner says.

"Omega is one of the largest coal companies in the country," Melanie says, "Been in the news lately during your time in the UK and not for the right reasons. The Catlettsburg facility was a nexus where the rail lines from the southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky coalfields are transported onto the river barges taking them to export terminals as well as to domestic power plants and industries. "

Bailey says "It's possible they're trying to disrupt the country's energy supply?"

"Possible but not the most likely," Chloe says, "The facility can be up and running again by the end of today. The impact on the coal supply to power plants won't suffer from a short term disruption at a single distribution point. Remember that Omega Resources former CEO is Clay Guthrie, the evangelist expected to speak at the Democrat National Convention tonight."

There was silence for a while. "Yes," Bailey says, "We don't have any suspects at this time but we must operate under the assumption this is somehow linked to him. Why today of all days? Is someone trying to distract the country from this message he is trying to preach to our elected officials?"

"I didn't elect them," Tanner says, "Can't believe how stupid people out there are! That's the only reason why this…." He says pointing at the TV showing the Democrats set up for their convention, "Is going on. Placing Omar Hassan's life before tens of thousands of Americans was indeed a dereliction of her oath, but her entire party shouldn't be punished. It was people in her own administration who saved Manhattan from the dirty bomb."

Bailey gives him a smirk. "I know some people don't deal with change to well, but I'm surprised you're among them, brother. Now it's time to get back to work."

REVELATIONS CHURCH

The scene opens with a shot of the green truss span of the Patrick Street Bridge over the Kanawha River, with the CSX railroad bridge and downtown Charleston WV skyline behind him. Then the screen splits and we see the three large crosses in front of Revelations Church then a view of the sanctuary with Clay preaching from the stage, walking back and forth. Another view shows members of the large congregation and their visitors.

"There are a lot of folks out there who like to talk about what a horrible person I am." Clay says, "And they'll be right. I AM a lousy man, I'm a terrible man, a sinner. But we are ALL sinners. The Bible says there is not one righteous among us, not one!" The congregation is nodding in agreement. "Even after we are saved we struggle with sin. But I know that our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for me! Like he died for all of us! I know I deserve to go to hell, but when I got saved, when I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, I went from eternally condemned to eternally saved."

Shouts of "amen!" and "yes sir!" erupt from the congregation.

COUNTRY DINER, SISSONVILLE

Guthrie's sermon is playing live on the TV screen in the country diner and Randy Jones is looking very disgusted, while the waitstaff and other patrons are captivated by the speech. Next to the TV, a Friends of Coal sign is prominently displayed on the diner wall.

" ….ask me…..why am I fighting when I know God will triumph in the end? When we see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ heaven, or if the Rapture happens today can we know without a doubt that we've done everything we can to serve the Lord?"

"Amen!" an Asian American man in the table next to Randy Jones says loudly. His friend, another typical country guy with a redneck t-shirt says. "He should run for Governor!" The waitress Stacy agrees with him. "Heck yeah!"

"Preach, brother!" another customer, an elderly man in a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat says, "This country needs God, not that socialist baloney in Washington. God bless you Brother Clay! Go tell it like it is!"

Randy's fist is clenched and his other hand is squeezing his silverware very tightly as he is visibly trying to hide his disgust at Clay and the others expressing support for the pastor. He dials another phone number. It is a black ex-military man named Martin Wright, inside a nondescript office.

"Martin, how are things going on your end? I hope you give merit to Mikhail's recommendation. An American asset recommended by some Ukraine Russians."

"You don't have to worry about me. Everything is set up. We're ready to move on your orders. We have the target under surveillance and have full access to security feeds on site." We see that Martin is looking at a security camera from the pharmaceutical company and we see Rebekah and some other interview candidates waiting in a lounge drinking coffee.

Randy nods to himself despite Martin obviously not being able to see him. "I hope it won't come to that. Mikhail has an elite team and everything's gone smoothly so far. Oh…" he turns around to see everyone looking as Clay's speech is interrupted with the news from Kentucky. He says softly, "Looks like we already got CTU's attention, and to think, this isn't even half of what's going to happen, not even a tenth actually."

CHURCH OFFICES

"Jack, that was CTU," Cole says, putting down the phone. "I told them everything looks fine on this end and the Charleston police have the protest under control but more than forty people were just massacred at an Omega Resources transshipment center just outside Huntington."

Jack sighs and shakes his head like he knows he's in for another long day. "This doesn't make sense, I know there's a lot of threats dealing with Pastor Guthrie's pro-life address tonight but why go after Omega? He still serves on the Board of Directors but he's no longer the CEO and he's not even one of the top three shareholders in the company."

"Funding, perhaps? Given that Omega is the most profitable coal producer in the United States and one of the top in the world whatever shares he owns is probably a lot."

"I don't think so," Jack replies, "He used his own assets to build this church but it's been self-funding. He gets donations from Christian organizations and individuals across the country. Going after Omega won't affect his movement, besides he is giving one special address today in South Carolina, he's not running for public office."

"Maybe it IS about this speech," a female voice says, "Or to make sure he doesn't get the attention and credit for it." Jack looks up and Kate Morgan comes in. She looks at Jack. "Sorry for being late, that appointment took longer than expected."

"The baby's doing fine?" Jack asks caringly. Kate nods. "Yes, just got a new dose of prenatal vitamins though. Maybe this low-key environment really has been better for me. After being in Warsaw and London so long I'm surprised to actually not mind this all-American thing anymore. But it's so hard, having to give birth and raise a child without a father, I just wish..…..sorry"

"Kate, I know how hard this still is for you. I don't blame you for what your husband did, you are a hero for your part in stopping Al-Harazi, and I believe in you, I trust you with my life, or else I wouldn't have asked you to work for me." Jack hugs her and squeezes her shoulders gently as she holds back tears. "But we do have a situation that may potentially involve us. I need you to be strong for us like you've always been ,Kate. You were saying it's about this speech?"

Kate nods. "Or preventing it. Think about it. Clay has been an evangelist for years, he's always supported pro-life messages and championed religious rights so it IS about this speech. It can be because of his charisma, just look at how many people he's 'saved' in his own words, or led to Christ, or whatever since he started this church. This is his moment, this is his chance to make a difference in national policy."

"The new laws the Democrats are proposing at the convention are revolutionary to saw the least," Cole agrees. "I don't think Roe vs Wade should be repealed, but what the they're proposing at the convention seemed almost designed to stir up controversy if I didn't know better. It goes way beyond the boundaries of so-called abortion rights."

"That's where Clay comes in," Kate says, "Yes, it's about his ability to make a difference, but it's about HIM personally. If someone has something personal against Guthrie this would be the day to do it. Destroy this moment to shine. Destroy his political advocacy, the thing he's become most passionate about, on this very day," Kate tells them. "And at the same time send a typical anti-capitalist message to the country, a bloody one at that."

"Interesting point there," Cole agrees. "To say his past wasn't perfect is totally sugarcoating it. I know he downplays it but depending on who you talk to he literally has blood on his hands. Before he entered the ministry, Pastor Guthrie wasn't well known beyond West Virginia, but has always been controversial along with Omega Resources. His enemies are even more incensed by his current stature as an evangelist. Under his leadership, OAR has been accused of hundreds of safety violations and accidents that have claimed dozens of lives, not to mention OAR's continued battles with the EPA and local property owners in many of the areas where they want to expand mining operations. Their foray into natural gas development in the face of cap and trade legislation and declining reserves has added a second can of worms to the whole situation. The Prius crowd certainly hasn't warmed up to him."

"So this might be someone trying to make sure his past is never forgotten," Jack concludes. "Good job, Kate. I didn't think along those lines, but what you mentioned is a real possibility. Cole, get back with CTU see if they have any updates on the situation in Catlettsburg. I need to know every suspicious or radical individual Jay Cooper has been in contact with in the past three years."

"I don't take orders from you Jack, remember?"

"Just a suggestion. That's all we can both to do each other right now." Cole nods. "Got it."

CTU SOUTHEAST DIVISION

"I see," Bailey says. "Maybe we need to look in a different direction. Maybe its coincidence, maybe not, but Omega has a lot of enemies all on its own, and that hasn't changed after Guthrie stepped down from his CEO position to pursue the ministry."

"Very serious enemies, mostly environmentalist groups, unions, and anti-capitalist organizations," Chloe informs the staff. "There's been a number of small scale violent attacks against them. They've been controversial over their battles with the EPA, mountaintop removal mining, their safety record, and their anti-union policies. They've repeatedly supported national right to work legislation. Basically the bucket list of the left wingers things to hate. No more than any other big company though."

There's a beeping sound alerting Chloe to her computer screen. "This just in. The voice on the phone was that of Jay Cooper. He's a former EPA enforcement officer and a suspected member of an eco-terrorist group the Earth Liberation Force. He was fired from the EPA after a scathing lawsuit that embarrassed the government. He put a dairy farmer in the hospital, and caused property damage on his farm in a confrontation with the farmer and local property rights activists. His team held the farmer and his family at gunpoint for two hours as they ransacked his farmhouse and killed several of his cows even poisoning watering hole. The farmer's alleged mishaps against the trees and fish of central Illinois angered Cooper so much he felt compelled to act in such a manner."

"I have a gut feeling there's more to this than just him," Bailey tells his staff. "I want you all to look at who Cooper has been in contact with recently."

NYLUND PHARMACEUTICALS HEADQUARTERS, CLARKSBURG / CABELAS MORGANTOWN

Rebekah Guthrie twirls her straw in her Starbucks coffee cup as she steps outside the glass lounge, smiling politely at one of the other interviewees. She flips open her phone and calls. On the other end is a Korean American man named Andy Kim. We see Kim at a shooting range firing pistols into a target as several other men watch. The target is a picture of Abu Fayed. Andy hands the gun and a box of ammo to a police academy trainee as he steps out of the shooting gallery into the Cabela's store in a Morgantown.

"What's up, sweetie?" he says.

"I'm here at Nylund right now, almost my turn. What about you?"

"Well I gotta say these kids got me impressed," he says, "Guess this is the new kinda typical day for me. Makes me feel old though."

Rebekah smiles as she looks out the window. "I knew you'd like it down here and you got me too, baby."

"You ready for this?" Andy asks her. "I know today's your big day. Independence day if I recall right. You being your own person. I'm…..frankly I'm surprised he gave you his blessing for us to get married. A Korean from Baltimore."

"Well he's starting to know I can take care of myself just fine and if he wants me in his life, he better respect the decisions I make," she says in a sassy voice. "Just like he'll have to come around after today." She sees an office assistant motion to her. "Ok gotta go, I'll call you as soon as I'm done."

The camera rests on Andy's face for a few long seconds like he's thinking deeply about something. Then he turns around and goes back to join the police cadets at the range.

TOPSPOT CAFÉ/CLARKSON LAW OFFICE

Randy Jones sits with a hot dog and a fried bologna sandwich in front of him as he pulls up another number from his contacts list. It is Vadim on the other line and in a split screen we see him and Mikhail still working on a computer.

"I see it on the news here," Vadim says in a thick Russian accent, "Looks like Jay pulled it off after all. I didn't actually have so much faith in him."

"Well the good preacher's gonna have a hell of a day to put it lightly," Randy says in a loud whisper. "Jay did what we set him up to do. And to think, the day is still young. So..how much progress have you and Comrade Mikhail made? Are you almost done?"

"We should have the records we need soon, we're breaking down the last firewall into the firm's secret banking and financial archives."

"Good, I don't need to impress upon you the importance of getting thorough access into their records. I need the full list of facilities and I need the two of you to erase all of my connections with Jay Cooper. CTU sent a team up last night and they're managing security for Guthrie. I'm doing everything on my end to handle the situation but you need to be careful and make sure the next attack happens precisely the way we planned."

"Yes," Mikhail says, entering the conversation. "But we cannot access the facilities without Guthrie. The things we get from here will be useless without him. The success of our ultimate attack today is completely dependent on this. Without Guthrie, this plan will not go forward. We need those materials in Omega's facilities in order to unleash the chaos you prescribed."

"I assure you everything will be taken care of on my end. Now show me you're worth the price you're charging," Randy switches to broken Russian as a loud group of customers enter the diner and walk right past his table.

"That will be my pleasure," Mikhail tells him. "You will know when we are complete here. I just need to make your friends are ready, we are only responsible for our end. We have made it clear to you we cannot launch the final operation alone."

"Da, don't worry," Randy says in halting Russian. The young men in the next table over look at him weirdly for a brief moment and turn back to the TV.

WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Fox News in the background is showing a man in a Kentucky trailer park speaking to a reporter as flames from the Catlettsburg coal port are seen behind him. "I swear it's one of those newer model drones, I know them from my time in Iraq. It fired several missiles on the ground…..yes this was after we heard the initial gunfire." Reporter: "To recap for those of you just joining us on his breaking news broadcast its believed either the military or CTU responded to this attack with a drone strike. "

"The media will come at you with everything they've got, like they've always done, especially in light of your pro-life stance but CTU did the right thing," Rob Weiss says to Heller. "Those cops were under attack, they were pinned down we had to try our best to rescue them. Bailey absolutely made the right call."

"Unfortunately for now I have to ground the drones," Heller says, shaking his head. "I don't blame CTU, but I have no choice. Not with what's going on today."

Rob motions to the TV. "That's different, that's a completely different issue. I also think this has to do with Guthrie's past, but you agree CTU was justified, the police had more men and choppers approaching the scene, the death toll would have been even higher than it is. And CTU stopped them before they could have possibly moved on to attack a different target."

"It's all the same to the DNC," Heller replies, "It's this us vs them mentality ever since the midterm elections. They want to do everything to destroy me, to destroy us its personal. It's all about their agenda. Their full agenda whether its health care, abortion, illegal immigration, drones, terror, everything."

"Sir, you need to SHOW those people you are still in control of the country. You are the President of the United States. If there are more attacks planned today we need those drones in the air. We need that intel. I don't think some deranged EPA enforcer did this all by himself."

"I appreciate your advice, Rob, but I need for things to cool down. Have CTU recall the drones back to their base at Joint Base Charleston. I need to contact Congresswoman Manchetti and liaison with the intelligence committee and monitor the situation. If the Democrats achieve their goals at the convention that will be a stain and an insult to my administration, and to our party, even more than what Allison Taylor did."

Rob Weiss nods. "Yes, Mr. President. I'll inform Bailey of your decision."

CLARKSON LAW OFFICE

"We are wrapping up now," Mikhail says to Vadim as we see an ongoing computer download. "Our objective here is almost complete. Call Boris and make sure he is ready. Have him double check on the package."

"Da," Vadim replies and speaks in Russian on the phone to "Boris", another Ukraine Russian mercenary who is driving in an SUV past the Charleston Town Center Mall and the Sears department store and turning toward the office tower housing the Clarkson law firm.

The download beeps and we see a green bar on the computer screen. Mikhail nods as Vadim checks outside the window and opens the door to the office again to make sure everything is clear. The law intern is tied up in a recliner chair with duct tape around his hands while Clarkson is kneeling on the ground. "Get up, Mister big shot lawyer," Mikhail commands. He makes sure the chamber is full in his gun and he grabs Clarkson. He presses the gun against his head.

"I….I've done everything you two have asked," Clarkson stammers. "What do you….."

"I need you to complete this transaction. We have reprogrammed the access codes but we need you to transfer your authority to us. We need full access to everything in here."

Clarkson gasps. There are not just account numbers in the files, but classified information from his two clients. "And make sure we get everything. I know you have access to both sides, Mr. Clarkson. I hope we have already convinced you we are several steps ahead of you," Mikhail says in his Russian accent.

"This would violate a dozen…."

"Laws?" Mikhail swings shoots Clarkson in the foot.

"AAAHHHHHH! Fuck! You son of a bitch! You….."

"That is also illegal, is it not? Now," Mikhail snarls, pushing the smoking gun into the back of Clarkson's head.

"You…..that's information not even the government has! Trade secrets, access to the locations of explosives and chemicals that can…."

"After my next bullet, you will not feel any more pain, ever again," Mikhail says menacingly. "You WILL do it!"

"You can't access that information alone, you can't decrepit…."

Vadim turns the gun on the intern and shoots him four times in the chest and once in the head, his body slumping down. "God…" Clarkson says.

"I wish it did not need to come to this," Mikhail says then shows Clarkson a picture of a device in the back of their van. "You may be willing to die, you may be willing to sacrifice your staff here," he says pointing to the intern's dead body, "But if you do not authenticate this program for us, I will make a call to my friend Boris, and he will detonate this bomb. I will not rot in some American prison or wait to be executed on death row. You will do what I ask, or I will destroy this building and kill everyone in it. It is your decision."

"Okay, okay," Clarkson is in tears now. "Please….I….I'm doing it now. I will do it, you don't have to kill anyone."

"Just start the programming," Mikhail says simply. Clarkson authenticates a sequence and there is more beeping as Mikhail types more commands into it."

"It's done," Vadim tells his comrade in Russian.

"Spaisiba, durak," Mikhail says and pulls the trigger. Clarkson's blood and brain matter splatters up onto the computer mainframe. Vadim informs Boris he will be down in a few minutes and to pull the car over. In the streets, Boris pulls the SUV onto the wide avenue fronting the office building.

RELEVATIONS CHURCH

Guthrie is continuing his sermon. "In some of your Bible study classes, we discussed the story of David, of now David was a godly man who followed the Lord's commandments. Can you imagine the disappointment the Lord felt in David during his sin with Bathsheba? God gave David so many things, yet David still committed a terrible sin. And as we know, the Lord chastised David for his sin. We learned about how David lost the child that he fathered with Bathsheba, how Absalom….."

We see Jack, Cole, and Kate Morgan in a split screen, and in another split screen we see Mikhail and Vadim getting out of the elevator into the main lobby of the building.

Guthrie continues, "Like David, we have been blessed as a nation. Yet we've turned our back away from God, away from the Lord Jesus Christ, away from the God that our founding fathers believed in." Guthrie is pacing back and forth across the stage. " And I believe the Lord has chastised our country in the past few years. God HAS truly blessed America and now our leaders are turning away from here. We do NOT want to incur God's wrath. We do not want to be chastised the way even a Godly man like David was chastised for his sins. If all the tragedies this country has faced in the past decade, the Valencia explosion, the Fayed bombings, the…" A screen splits again and we see Linda, the young female security guard downstairs, doing some homework for a college class. The screen switches to her.

Linda smiles a friendly and polite smile. "Wow, y'all were up there a long time," she says, chatting in a friendly manner. "Can't believe its almost 1. At least I get off in a few minutes, still got school all afternoon."

Mikhail forces a smile. "But we got the work done. They shouldn't have any computer problems anytime soon. Remember we Russians know our computer stuff well."

She laughs. "Maybe you'll take care of my school laptop for me."

In a split screen, Guthrie is quoting the Bible "blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" from Psalm 33:12.

Mikhail smiles and disarming smile, completely different than the killer he was earlier. "Clarkson has my contact information. Give me a call sometime miss."

The two Russians head out the door to the waiting SUV, with Boris in the driver's seat. They speed out of the parking garage. The camera does a split screen as Boris hands Mikhail an electronic detonator and we see the parked van in the garage that Mikhail and Vadim had arrived in. We see Linda getting back to her studying in the empty lobby where nobody's checking in at the moment, then we see the corpses in the law office and another view of the office building looking up into the sky.

SPLIT SCREENS

Pastor Guthrie is now leading the congregation in the contemporary worship song "Still" by Hillsong Music. We hear the congregation singing as we see the Russians' van speeding away, Jack Bauer and his friends still in the church offices and the drone flying through the air above the Appalachian Mountains.

Congregation (music): "When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm…."

Mikhail pushes the detonator and the entire street shakes. A massive explosion originates from the parked van and spread across the entire ground floor of the 10 story office building. Linda looks up from her security desk just in time to see the wall of flame and debris tearing through the entire lobby. The building collapses into pieces, pieces of twisted metal and glass and dead bodies falling into the streets below as a massive cloud of smoke envelops everything behind Mikhail's van as he turns onto a bridge, crossing the Elk River and then speeds onto the on-ramp for Interstate 77. In a split screen, Mikhail checks in with Randy Jones who smile at the progress they have made. In another split screen we see a CTU staff entering the main floor in shock and Bailey ordering them to give updates on the situation in West Virginia.

Music: "Father you are King over the flood, I will be still and know you are God. When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm…"

In another set of split screens we see Rebekah Guthrie sitting down for her interview in front of three corporate executives and Martin Wright loading weapons into some Jeeps along with other ex-military mercenaries. We see that they have Rebekah's exact position within the building on their PDA device. The van is filled with military grade weapons. They leave a nondescript warehouse type facility in Morgantown and drive off.

"Randy, we're on the move, we're awaiting your instructions," Martin says.

Randy acknowledges. "Be on standby as agreed. We will try to act on my end first."

Finally we see Mikhail double checking his laptop again and looking satisfied. We see his computer. On it there is financial information from the companies as well as state and local maps of West Virginia with dots scattered over it. Mikhail closes the laptop shut as the van continues to drive down the freeway, crossing over the Chuck Yeager Memorial Bridge and entering the West Virginia Turnpike.

….12:58….12:59…1 PM.


	3. Episode 3: 1 PM - 2 PM

Author's Note – I updated the cast and Randy Jones is now played by Liam Neeson. I think it would be interesting to feature him as a villain. One of his earliest performances was in the movie "Next of Kin" with Patrick Swayze and in that movie he actually plays a country character from Kentucky.

Ashley Judd is cast as Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti since in real life, she wants to run for Congress.

In this story, Mark Boudreau was fired after it was discovered that he forged President Heller's signature and tried to send Jack to Russia. Audrey divorced him so her name is now Audrey Heller.

The original title was "Tale of Two Cities" since this features two cities named Charleston that are quite different from each other! I chose to set this particular story out in the "real America" if y'all know what I mean!

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 1 PM AND 2 PM

DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON WV

The pieces still remaining from the downtown office building housing the Clarkson law firm collapses and falls into the streets as people are scrambling for their lives. Thick black smoke from the burning debris and gray smoke and dust kicked up by the collapsing structure cast a dark pall over all of downtown Charleston. We hear sirens and helicopter arriving on the scene as ambulances, fire engines, and police cars pull up to the wreckage of the leveled office building. Civilians are pouring out of the nearby buildings and businesses. We see another shot of the city, this one with the State Capitol building with the plume of black smoke rising behind it. There is widespread panic and people crying and screaming on the streets as the paramedics rush to help those injured. Many of the first responders are wearing masks to protect them from the dust flying everywhere.

SISSONVILLE, WV

Randy signs his name as he pays for his food. The waitress Stacy rings him up at the counter. "So how was everything?" she asks him. Randy nods. "No complaints. How's this summer been by the way? Sorry we didn't get to chat."

"Oh it's been fun, just workin' and hangin' out. Good thing the Virgil Tate Pool's finally open again, my friend lifeguards there and I get in for free. Still need to work on my tan!"

He adds the tip to the receipt and nods "You know that big rock festival up in Columbus? Starts this afternoon. Always a good time. You should think about going if you're off."

Stacy lights up in youthful excitement. "That's this weekend? Thought it was a few weeks from now! Yeah I always wanted to go to that! I really should call up my girls, head out of town for a weekend."

Randy nods. "Definitely be a good idea."

In a split screen we see Randy leaving the diner and emerging on a semi-rural road going through some gentle hills. There is small white country church across the street and some trailers on a hillside. He gets into a large red pickup truck, checks his text messages again once more, and drives off. In another split screen we see President Heller being briefed on the bombing.

NYLUND PHARMACEUTICALS

One of the company executives, a man named Heath Mizeur is looking over Rebekah's CV again. "You do have quite an interesting resume, Miller Lite girl even. I'm sure your daddy's none too pleased about that. Does show you have the right personality, which is a lot of what pharmaceutical sales entails."

"Some things my dad doesn't know about," Rebekah tells him with a smile.

"I see….you've really become your own person during your college career. Pursuing a science degree vs going into your dad's mining business, and now working for a company like us when you father isn't exactly friendly to the kind of work we do or the kinds of clients we service."

"I'm well aware of the full extent of Nylund's market," Rebekah says, "And I will have absolutely no qualms about marketing any of your products and services. Like you said, I'm not my father. Coming to college has made me a much more well-rounded and progressive person ,but I've never had an issue with free access to birth control or elective abortions. My father wasn't even religious until my senior year of high school and I've always been a very open minded and progressive person. Every woman has a right to a safe abortion and to free birth control."

The pharmaceutical executives nod as Rebekah continues, "In fact this company's progressive credentials, and your desire to push for change and to embrace change despite pressure from people like my father is one of the reasons I'm most attracted to it. Nylund is one of the few companies in America that won't hesitate to service the abortion market. As a woman, this is my body. Nobody has the right to tell me what to do with it. If a woman wants to terminate a pregnancy for whatever reason, that is her right. My father didn't even believe in the Bible until a few years ago, he doesn't have the right to tell anyone how to live their life just because one day he suddenly decided to…"

We see the outside of the building as Martin Wright and his men pull into the parking lot.

REVELATIONS CHURCH OFFICES / CTU

We see a split screen showing a line of body bags lined up on a downtown street outside the ruins of the bombed office building and paramedics tending to the wounded. Charleston Police are setting up a perimeter and blocking off all traffic in and out of the area except for ambulances and fire engines. Roadblocks are being set up as well. Then we see Jack looking shocked as he checks in with CTU.

"Are you sure?" Jack asks Bailey on the other end.

"Yes, positive. Given the situation I wish we can spare more men but I need to reassign part of the team currently with you to Omega's headquarters including Cole."

"Aaron I'm really not sure it's the right call, please hear me out. All this is happening one the exact day Guthrie is making his public appearance in a political convention I think this is about him. We need to make sure he's protected."

Bailey paces around the main floor of CTU Southeast Division. A split screen shows Chloe pulling up some security feeds from WVDOT cameras and flight information from Yeager Airport. "That's your hunch, Jack but do you have any concrete evidence that Guthrie is personally under attack, and I mean him physically?"

"No I don't…"

Bailey cuts him off. "Then I can't justify pulling valuable resources from the scene! You and I both know West Virginia is NOT prepared to handle a terrorist attack of this magnitude, and this is now the SECOND attack targeting OAR."

"Second? OAR?" Jack asks curiously.

"Chloe just ran through a list of the tenants at 22 Kanawha Terrace, the building that was just bombed. Many local companies have offices in there but one of the tenants is the Clarkson law office. Clarkson is one of the largest law firms in West Virginia and they basically work for the mining industry. They are also working on the merger deal between Omega Resources and Panhandle Gas, a natural gas exploration firm based in Fairmont.

Omega's headquarters is right there in the Metro Valley and the terrorists responsible for the bombing are still at large and in the city. You're lucky I'm going to let you continue to operate this freely. If anything happens with Guthrie let me know but I'll pulling Chase from the team for now."

"Understood," Jack sighs and hangs up. This is when Guthrie comes in.

CHURCH OFFICES

"Jack!" he says, a very shocked expression on his face. "They're saying a bomb exploded downtown do you know what the situation is?"

Jack nods grimly. "22 Kanawha Terrace, we believe it's another attack against Omega Resources. That where…."

"Jerry Clarkson oh God…" Guthrie looks shocked and devastated. "How bad is the…." He looks at the TV which is showing the building completely collapsed. "How….how could this happen?" he asks aloud.

"Clay, CTU is still looking for answers as we speak, but why would someone target Omega today of all days? Is disrupting your speech that important?"

Clay nods. "The presentation I give at the DNC tonight is likely to make or break their case. My enemies on the left are very determined. There are things that they don't want me to reveal about their cause. But I don't see how this relates to Omega, yes I'm on the Board of Directors and I own stock in the company but my shares are miniscule. The company's been run by our new CEO Vincent Sanchez since I stepped down. The list of Omega's enemies hasn't changed. For many people, OAR represents everything they're against, everything they hate about our country and our way of life."

"Clay," Jack says, "I need to know who you think is targeting you. I know there are many people who disagree with you, very harshly, on a number of issues but who can be driven to commit mass murder."

"Wouldn't surprise me if people in the government are involved," Clay says frankly, "You know…..you're one of the few people I trust. Think about who I'm up against. Think about what the government has done to YOU, Jack. After everything you've done for this country so many times, they abandoned you in China, they sent people to kill you. If someone won't even hesitate to murder a child before he or she even has the chance to be born, you think there's anything they're NOT capable of?"

"Clay, with all due respect not everyone shares that perspective, to them…."

"Well to me it is!" Clay snaps. "I believe in God, I believe in what the Bible says, and people hate me for it, they persecute me and people like me, they want to kill us. That's what's happened for thousands of years. You know I can't trust the government, in fact I'm surprised YOU trust them, I mean Heller is okay, but in general….even before I became a preacher, even when I was CEO, they've always tried to destroy me, they've always had some of crusade against me."

"The left wing groups, or elements in the government?"

"I don't see much of a difference nowadays, not since the midterm elections," Clay says.

"Clay, I'm sorry to have upset you more," Jack says, "But we must consider a theory CTU is operating under, that these attacks are not only against you personally. It's also possible whoever is behind these attacks is using your connection with Omega to draw attention to their cause."

"I haven't been CEO for over 4 years, Jack."

"But you're still publicly associated with Omega Appalachian Resources. And we can't discount that fact that, as you pointed out yourself, that many of the people who oppose your religious activism also oppose the system you were part of during your business career."

"That may be the case, but I just don't believe it's that simple, Jack. Yes, Clarkson is…..was…." it obviously pains Clay to refer to Clarkson in the past tense, "Involved in the deal with Panhandle Gas. I personally played no role in that deal but in reality it's a buyout of Panhandle. Every year, Jack, the EPA tightens the noose on the coal industry and now Congress wants to pass this cap and trade legislation to shut down coal power plants we have to expand into natural gas. You have to understand, Jack, that there's always been those who hated the industry, and…" Clay says more spiritedly, "Those who hate American values and how we do things in America."

"We'll figure things out, Clay. But, knowing you, I'm assuming you still plan to go to Myrtle Beach for the convention?"

"You got that right, Jack. You see, we do understand each other. I'm doing God's work, I cannot, and I will not waver, certainly not when the day of battle is at hand."

Jack nods. "I've arranged for your ride home so you can get ready for the speech. In light of this morning's events we're going to ride in a different vehicle. We can't take any chances now."

"It's your call, Jack," Clay says, "I trust you on this. And I trust the Lord. He brought us together for a reason." Clay is very weary now. "Lord please get us through today."

CLARKSBURG BUSINESS PARK

Rebekah Guthrie chats with some of the other interviewees as they talk through the lobby and into the exterior gardens of the suburban office park housing Nylund Pharmaceuticals and several other biotechnology firms. "Oh really? You ain't kidding, Clay Guthrie is your father!" a young man named Robby is saying to her.

"Shush, don't advertise it," Rebekah says. "I'm as far from the preacher's daughter kind as you can get. Plus I was never raised as a preacher's daughter. More like a corporate criminal's daughter."

"Well there ARE progressive companies, like we just saw," Robby says, "Hope we both get it."

"Excuse me Ms. Guthrie?" a voice says. Rebekah sees Martin Wright approaching. Martin waves to another one of his men, a white man sitting on a bench typing on a laptop.

"Yes?" Rebekah asks. Martin comes up close and lifts his shirt to reveal a Desert Eagle handgun then takes a Swiss Army knife and pushes it against Rebekah's back. "Say another word, motion to anyone, and I'll kill you. Do as I say and you won't get hurt."

Rebekah nods, then swings Martin's arm around. Martin tries to slash her with the knife but misses. She kicks him in the groin and punches him.

"You fucking bitch!" Martin curses and waves to the rest of his man. "You forced us to do it this way."

"Drop it or we will kill you!" the laptop man shouts pulling his gun. The smattering of people outdoors for their lunch break panics and there is screaming. Robby, the other interviewee turns around.

"What the hell?" he says, pulling out his own gun. A burst of automatic gunfire cuts him down from behind and we see two more armed kidnappers in business suits approaching up a staircase. Rebekah flattens herself on the in concrete sidewalk in the garden and then jumps behind a statue and raised flower bed. The laptop man opens fire at her with an Uzi submachine gun, the bullets tearing through the statue and bouncing everywhere. Dirt is kicked up and the flower bed is demolished, pieces of porcelain and dirt and plant matter flying everywhere.

Rebekah is panting as the bullets continue to fly. Martin shouts something to his men, waving frantically but they seem not to hear. A pair of security officers is now pulling up in a golf cart and coming upon the scene. The first guards are unarmed and simply speak into their radios but they are both shot and killed by bursts of automatic weapons fire. Rebekah hears a gap in the gunfire then whirls around and brings out her own pistol, a Glock 9mm. She squeezes off three bullets in the general direction of the laptop man, causing him to duck and sidestep. The laptop man brings his gun back up and fires but misses. Rebekah fires one shot into his chest and he drops the gun, then another into his throat. The man falls down clutching his neck as blood sprays outward from the wound.

Rebekah then starts running as more bullets fly in her direction. Several civilians in the area are shot and killed by the gunfire directed in her direction. A young company employee tries to get out of the way but is shot several times, his coffee flying into the air as he is shot in the chest and collapses screaming, falling into a fountain with a red splash. "Help me!" Rebekah screams as an armed private security team swarms the area.

However this team is no match for the kidnappers. Most of them are dead within twenty seconds. One security guard manages to graze one of the kidnappers but he is quickly shot down. Two more guards appear at the top of a staircase leading to a mezzanine level outside on the building. Martin fires two quick bursts and the man and woman both drop their weapons and tumble down the stairs dead, their blood leaving a bright red trail. Another guard appears in the lobby in front of them. Martin fires through the glass, shattering the glass. Another civilian bystander is cut down by gunfire, his head exploding in a red shower. Martin shoots the remaining guard and is joined by several other kidnappers who pump more bullets into the guard who gasps for breath as he collapses to the ground. Most people have fled the area by now and we only hear the distance screaming. "Secure the target!" Martin shouts to his men, "We should already be out of here by now! Get that bitch that let's roll!"

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack, Clay, Kate, and Cole are walking toward the parking lot of Revelations Church as police units secure the parking lot. There is a moving shot of Randy's pickup truck speeding down Interstate 77 along the Elk River with the Freedom Industries facility in the background. He sees the pall of black smoke rising from downtown Charleston ahead and is expressionless except for a very slight grin as he contemplates the next stages of the plot. More armed kidnappers working for Martin are approaching the Nylund Pharmaceuticals building. Mikhail is passing through the Cabin Creek toll plaza on the WV Turnpike heading south.

OUTDOOR PLAZA, BUSINESS PARK

The laptop man is coughing up blood and blood is spurting from the gunshot wound Rebekah inflicted in his neck. "You…..you need to get me to a hospital, Martin, please….."

Martin Wright is expressionless as he points his gun at the laptop man. "We both know I can't do that," he says and shoots his man in the head.

Rebekah is back inside now on the third floor, going toward a skybridge but she is being trapped as more kidnappers appear on the other end.

"We need her alive! Fuck!" Martin screams at his men, "Do you fucking hear me?"

A kidnapper fires up into the skybridge and Rebekah falls to the floor as the glass breaks and showers all over her. The kidnapper fires more live rounds up toward her. Martin tries to get the man's attention but fails, so he shoots and kills him. "We need her ALIVE!" he shouts angrily, "I will NOT allow ANY of you to compromise our objective." This finally gets the rest of the kidnappers attention. Martin races up a staircase in the neighboring building and emerges in front of Rebekah. She fires and he whirls around, her bullets hitting the wall behind him. Martin then fires at her but a dart comes out, striking Rebekah in the chest.

Rebekah gasps as Martin and more kidnappers approach. "You crazy, fucking bitch," Martin snarls at her. "If it was up to me I'll put a fucking bullet in your brain RIGHT NOW." Rebekah's legs buckle and she falls in the middle of the skybridge. The screen splits as we see more scenes from the church.

CHURCH PARKING LOT

"You be okay Jack?" Cole asks as he prepares to head to Omega headquarters. We see Clay finishing up a call with the new CEO of the company and updating him on the situation and informing him of CTU's arrival.

"I didn't come all the way here to be caught up in this again," Jack says. "This was NOT supposed to happen. Not here. Not me again."

"That's what I'm here for," Chase says, "Few hours from now, you'll be in Myrtle Beach, just entertain that thought for a moment."

"Thanks Cole," Jack says. "I know your team will be ready. Chloe still knows her stuff you don't have to worry about that. She's going to run point for you the entire way and the interagency protocols with West Virginia State Police are already in place."

"By the way, congrats on your new baby Jack."

Jack looks surprised. "Excuse me?"

"Kate….."

"That…..that's not my child."

"So who's the father?"

"I better not get into that, if you understand. But I'm still with Audrey, and that's not going to change. I lost her enough times already. I will NOT let that happen again I swear. When Heller's administration is over she's moving in with me."

"You intend to move back to California when this contract is over?"

"I don't know when it's going to be over," Jack says. "But it's something I've been talking over with Kim. I need to believe today is a mistake. I used to think this life is where I belong it's all I've known but that's not true anymore. Audrey showed me otherwise. I will do anything to get through this day."

"Then just quit, Jack. You're your own boss now aren't you?"

"it's not that simple. You might not know it, but Clay's a good man. He took me in, he let me live on his property for free. He's always respected and trusted me and has been more tolerant than he has been with me. I want to leave, but I can't do it right now. Not today."

SOUTH HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD, CHARLESTON WV / CLARKSBURG WV

Randy's pickup and several SUVs, some with Russian mercenaries and some with domestic extremists are parked at a park overlooking North Charleston and the West Side across the Kanawha River. Randy is speaking to Martin on the phone. The split screens show Rebekah blindfolded and tied up, and the kidnappers vehicle driving along a busy street in Clarksburg.

"What the fuck was that?" Martin yells into the phone. "I lost five of my men just now, FIVE! Party girl senior my ass! Who the hell is this bitch, you didn't tell me she was armed and….."

"You knew the risks," Randy says and chuckles, "This is West Virginia. Everyone has a gun here. Certainly the Guthrie kind of West Virginia family, the rebel flag pickup truck kind of assholes mixed with the SUV, gated community kind of asshole, the worst of both worlds! I thought you would have been more prepared. I thought the Marines taught you to understand your battlefield."

"Don't get smart with me, man," Martin spats. "Turn right here!" he yells at the driver "Need to make sure we have this bitch under control. "

Martin continues to yell at Randy on the phone as Randy paces around outside his truck, the blue collar neighborhoods of North Charleston clearly visible in the distance. "I don't know who our mutual acquaintances are and why the Ukrainian bastards…."

"You mean Russians. They'll kill you if you called them Ukrainians to their face."

"Whatever, I don't know why they set all this up….you say we're supposed to kill this bitch why this?"

"We need her for assurance purposes," Randy tells him.

"I know how much you hate Clay Guthrie, but the police will be all over us, that was a bloodbath back there man, dozens of people were killed."

"A drop in the bucket compared to what happened here in Charleston," Randy says darkly, "And compared to what we have planned."

"We coulda just shot her and sent Guthrie the video, this wasn't necessary," Martin extorts.

"You really don't get the full picture. Trust me, you don't," Randy tells him, "If you think this revenge alone you're mistaken."

"We're taking her to our safe house in Morgantown where she can't escape. We can't take any chances."

"Just make sure she's kept alive for now," Randy says and hangs up.

One of Randy's men, Jordan, hands him some binoculars. They walk to a different part of the hilltop and see MacCorckle Avenue below them. "Target should be coming any time now."

RELEVATIONS CHURCH

"Kate," Jack says after Cole's team had departed. "Mark and the rest of us should be able to handle it, just a simple escort to Clay's house.

"Jack I'm coming with you, you don't know what might happen!" Kate exclaims, apparently shocked at his request to stay behind.

"You can monitor the situation from the offices here. Look this has become a hostile situation. We don't have things under control at the moment it's too dangerous." Jack looks down at her belly even though she's not visibly pregnant yet. "I don't want you or your unborn child in harm's way."

"I'll be fine, Jack, I'm right here with you." She has tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh, Kate, what's going on? Please."

"It….it's just still so hard for me. That night in London, if it had been us, if it was your baby. Jack I know you don't have feelings for me, that we're just friends, but I don't want to lose you. You've taken care of me through all this. I need to be here for you."

"I appreciate how much you care about me," Jack tells her, "But we need you here. I will not put you or your child in danger. That's an order. Is that understood?"

She nods. "Fine." Jack hugs her gently and touches her shoulders. It looks like it's possible he has feelings toward her. Jack then walks over to a Ford Expedition and gets in the driver's seat. Clay is already buckled up next to him and ready to go.

SPLIT SCREENS

The Expedition starts moving through the parking lot toward the exit of the church property. Martin and his men drag a groggy Rebekah out of the vehicle and Martin types codes into a secure keypad and a metal door opens. She struggles a little and Martin slaps her across the face causing her to moan in pain.

AUDREY'S OFFICE, WHITE HOUSE / PENTHOUSE SUITE

Audrey Heller looks up at Rob Weiss and some other White House staffers with a disappointed expression as she speaks on the conference room phone with a Democrat delegate at the convention, who is pacing around in a luxurious penthouse suite overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. In a split screen, James Heller is visibly upset at the day's tragic events unfolding on TV. Fox News also has reports coming in about what was believed to be a mass shooting at an office park in the Morgantown area and speculation that it too was connected to the events in Charleston and Kentucky.

"Congresswoman, I implore you to put our partisan differences aside…"

"I don't answer to you, Audrey," Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti says. It is notable how Audrey addressed her by her title but Natalie Manchetti is addressing Audrey by her first name. "And don't you dare lecture me on partisanship after what you, your father, Keeler, Taylor, and Logan have done. And no, this will not be postponed. Can I be frank with you Audrey?"

"That might be a first, so go ahead," Audrey replied, getting smart with her. "You could use some practice on how to be open and transparent. The American people would appreciate that."

"To begin, I think it is a travesty that you are attempting to take advantage of today's tragedies for political gain, to use them as a distraction against the progressive policies my party is pursuing here. At least that's the speculation that will come from the major news networks if you and your father insist on seeking a rescheduling of tonight's events. Trust me Audrey if you think I'm your enemy now you haven't seen anything yet. My party is unified unlike yours. Whatever differences we have, trust me we will come to a concensus tonight and our party, all 2/3 majority of us, will vote as one when the time comes in Congress. The only difference is how badly we destroy you, your father, and the entire national GOP in the process. You disgust me as a woman, refusing to stand up for your rights and freedoms. You are to women what Clarence Thomas was to the black community. If you choose to be my enemy, Audrey, I will destroy you not only politically but personally."

"How dare you?"

"Don't forget, Audrey, that while it's been many years since I anchored my news program, I still have many loyal friends in many of the networks who support me and are as eager as I am to call you out on your war on women and your resistance to correcting the injustices and inequalities that plague this nation while you condemn the lives of American soldiers and civilians to death so you can pursue your nation building goals. How is Sangala, by the way? Another day, another war. All happening because of the military-industrial complex that you people are so in bed with."

"You know that my father and I did not support Allison Taylor. Rob Weiss, the man who made an impossible decision to go against Taylor to save New York City, while YOU were living there….."

"And that brings me to my main point, Audrey," Manchetti says smugly, "You mentioned transparency. Well as the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and a senior ranking member of Congress, I believe I am entitled to be updated on the progress CTU and your administration are making toward handling this terrorist crisis. I want updates throughout the day, beyond the usual information shared to me because of my senior position on the Intelligence Committee."

"Congresswoman, what you are asking….."

Manchetti interrupts her, "I just want transparency, Audrey. I want to make sure that what happened with Allison Taylor and the nuclear fuel rods never happens again. Let me remind you that tens of thousands of civilians in New York would be dead and many still dying slowly of radiation poisoning because Taylor felt the life of a foreign head of state came first. Or the hundreds of Americans that died or were put at risk because of Taylor's insistence on foreign intervention in Sangala even though we have no national interests there whatsoever. She was lucky the FBI was able to secure the CIP firewall device."

"Like I said my father's administration do not condone her actions and we have publicly…"

"The public doesn't believe you, Audrey. This is the digital age. They believe what they see on TV, what they read online in the news websites, what they hear on the radio. I assure you my friends in the media see this world the way I see it, and not how you and James Heller see it. For your sake I suggest that you tune me in and give me constant updates on the situation on the ground in West Virginia."

"I will discuss this with my father, YOUR commander-in-chief and President, and either I or him will get back to you," Audrey says simply, looking shocked at the vitriol with which Natalie treated her. What in-fighting in the past could not compare with her interactions with the actual opposing party.

"Make it quick, Audrey," Natalie says, "I'm waiting." Audrey had already hung up on her.

Natalie's face is twisted in rage and indignation. There is a knock on the door. She puts on an easygoing, charismatic smile as she goes to the door, characteristic of someone who knows how to play politics and act agreeable when necessary.

SOUTH HILLS, CHARLESTON WV

Randy whistles to get all his men's attention. "Guthrie has left the church and is heading back to his estate to prepare for that bullshit hypocritical speech he thinks he's giving tonight. They're in a Ford Expedition, the last vehicle in the convoy. Again he's in the Expedition, not the usual BMW. The man in charge of security for him is Jack Bauer. Let's move. Almost time to welcome him home."

…1:59…..2:00 PM


	4. Episode 4: 2 PM - 3 PM

NOTE: I Usually don't do "previously on 24" but the following is an addition after I reviewed the last chapter. Martin tells Randy that he lost 5 men in the operation to kidnap Rebekah but that was never depicted so here it is. I like my action depicted vs just hearing about the aftermath. For example I was really disappointed in Season 8 with Novakovich's death I wanted to actually see Jack going into his hotel room with guns blazing and killing everyone.

- Apparently YouTube links don't work but please check out the music featured in the previous episodes

PREVIOUSLY ON 24…

Martin Wright hides behind a parked car as Rebekah fires several shots in her direction. Two of his men try to flank her and go at her from opposite directions. "Remember we need her alive," Martin says. "Rebekah!" he shouts over the screams of the fleeing bystanders, "Freeze now! I don't want to kill you but I will!"

Rebekah turns to the first approaching kidnapper and shoots him in the chest, the man dropping down dead, the momentum of his running causing his dead body to slide forward. Rebekah then lowers herself to the pavement and shoots one of the other gunmen in the ankle. The man drops down screaming. Rebekah puts a bullet in his head. Rebekah then starts running back toward the Nylund Pharmaceutics building. Another one of Martin's men rush toward her with a stun gun and a pistol, squeezing off shots. A woman fleeing past Rebekah is shot through the back and dies. Rebekah turns around and charges the man as he reloads. She hits him once in the stomach and the man bends over screaming then takes out his weapons again and fires at her.

Rebekah twirls around a tree as the man fires, shooting two bystanders instead as the exodus from the building speeds up. Rebekah then comes back around the tree and shoots the man twice through the heart, killing him instantly. Rebekah runs through the lobby up an escalator and sees another kidnapper trying to shut off her retreat but the building is swarming with Martin's men. Rebekah reloads her pistol and fires at the kidnapper coming down the opposite escalator. He is shot three times and tumbles down the escalator.

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 2 PM AND 3 PM

SPRINGMAID BEACH RESORT, MYRTLE BEACH

The scene opens with a shot of the Myrtle Beach skyline from the Atlantic Ocean with the white sand dunes and boardwalk visible, then there is an aerial shot with the SkyWheel Myrtle Beach up close then another shot of a large resort complex next to the SkyWheel with numerous swimming pools. We see Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti looking at the TV in silence in her penthouse suite.

Fox News Reporter heard during the opening scenes: "CTU and police from several states are investigating whether there is any connection between today's devastating terrorist attack and a deadly assault on a coal company property 45 miles west of here in Catlettsburg, Kentucky…."

Natalie sees that the suite's previous guests had set the TV on Fox News Channel. She snatches the remote off the nightstand and changes it to MSNBC.

NBC anchor: "….confirmed death toll has risen to 201 in today's car bombing of a major downtown office building in West Virginia's largest city. This is the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since the Valencia nuclear explosion nearly ten years ago."

"Natalie?" a voice appears on the side. It is Congressman John Rezierski of West Virginia.

Natalie turns around and sees him approaching. "Yes, John, glad you could take the time to see me. I know it is a terrible day." She shows him a more sympathetic look. "I'm sorry about what happened in Charleston, it must be a very difficult time for your constituents and they are deep in my thoughts. Congress will modify the FEMA budget and make federal assistance available to your state immediately. As Chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee I will also demand an immediate and thorough investigation, and anyone with any possible negligence in preventing these attacks will be punished. You have my assurances on this."

"I appreciate your concerns but there is one other matter I would like to discuss with you," John says. "In light of the events that happened in my state, I and several other delegates here feel it might be a good idea to postpone the events of this convention, as a remembrance of today's victims."

Natalie shakes her head. "Once again you have our condolences, and we shall observe a moment of silence for the dead at the opening of the convention. But neither I nor the party leadership will postpone the convention. Like I already personally informed the White House, we will not give in to this kind of terrorism. Changing our plans in the face of these attacks would be a sign of weakness. It would be a victory for the terrorists responsible for today's bloodbaths."

"There are members of my staff who have family members and friends missing in Charleston," John says, "Congresswoman Manchetti, I know we have some very deep differences and I respect the intense devotion you have for your beliefs, but I implore you to show some consideration to the families of the victims. I'm not James or Audrey Heller. I am a Democrat like you, trying to represent my people the way you represent the people of New Jersey."

"if I didn't know better I'd think you are using this as an excuse to delay Pastor Guthrie's speech so he can, I guess, perfect it? The good preacher isn't ready for his big night?"

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack and Guthrie are driving down MacCorckle Avenue in Charleston WV. CTU's staff is working frantically trying to gather information about the bombing. Randy is briefing his men as they get ready to launch their operation into Guthrie's property. Mikhail and Vadim are pulling off the highway and following a two-lane road snaking through terrain that is notably more mountainous than the landscape in the Charleston area. The road is dotted with small farms with livestock pastures and homesteads but the area is mostly rural and undeveloped.

SOUTH HILLS DISTRICT, CHARLESTON WV

Jack drives along the wide riverfront avenue past the University of Charleston campus, with the Frontier Communications building visible on the right. They are taking a longer, indirect route instead of the Interstate.

"Jack, I have a lot of respect for Kate," Guthrie says sitting in the passenger seat next to Jack.

"I do too," Jack nods, "She's a smart woman. I'm not sure what she's told you about London, but I wouldn't have been able to stop Margot Al-Harazi without her. We will never know how many lives she's saved."

"She's a strong woman too, and not just that. It also takes bravery and strength to raise a child alone, yet she chose to do it. My enemies say they are pro-choice. Kate made a choice too."

Jack sighs and nods. "I respect your perspective as I've said many times before. I don't know if I agree with it. I'm sure you understand I've had a lot on my mind these several years. So she told you about her child?"

Guthrie nods. "Yes, Jack, she did. She told me how she missed her husband, and loved him despite the things he did. And that she really thought she had a chance with you. She didn't expect you and Audrey to get back together."

"I didn't expect that either. As a preacher you might say that God's blessed me by bringing her back to me. But honestly I'm surprised you don't judge Kate negatively because of her child. Being unmarried and everything."

"Jack," Guthrie says earnestly, "We all make mistakes. It's how we deal with those mistakes that show what kind of people we are. Yes, Kate sinned when she brought that man to her apartment in London that night. But she could have gone to some clinic and taken care of the problem. But she didn't. She is giving her child a chance at life. That's why I'm so proud of her."

Jack simply nods.

"Both of us know very well what it's like to make mistakes in the past. But every day that we're here Jack, is a blessing. Every day."

PRIVATE POOL AREA, PENTHOUSE SUITES

"The press conference is coming up soon, but I'm going to make this quick," Natalie says to John Rezierski, the two now walking to the private rooftop pool just outside the penthouse suite. She turns and looks him straight in the eye with a determined expression on her face.

"John," she says, "I need to be sure that whatever consensus our party comes to tonight, that will be our unified stance when Congress returns to session."

"Natalie, you know the dedication and loyalty I have for our party. I've been a Democrat Congressman for seven terms…"

"What's your concern, John? I…..I tried my best to be as inclusive as possible. I didn't try to stop Clay Guthrie from speaking tonight, at the main event, for Christ's sake, even though the progressive wing has the numbers to do that," she says in an agitated tone, "You represent your people, I understand. You say that your constituents are in your words, a 'God fearing bunch', that you come from 'God's Country'. I'm letting Guthrie speak. I even advocated for the convention to be held here as a sign of respect for the conservative wing of our party and a message that we still care about the blue collar Southerner."

"The moderate wing," John corrects him, "And if you really cared about my constituents you would call off the EPA and end the war on coal."

Natalie dismisses it, "Anyway, in the face of opposition of several of my peers, including most of the Black Caucus, I agreed to hold the convention here in South Carolina, in the heart of the old Confederacy. You won't believe the blowback I've gotten on my Facebook page from my base."

"You and I both know the reason y'all chose South Carolina," John says, "With all due respect, Natalie."

"I have no idea what you're insinuating, but this was a move to show that we still respect the conservative Democrats, blue dogs, whatever youse guys call it. It shows we still care about the rest of the country outside California and the Northeast in spite of the divisive narrative coming from Fox News. We have done EVERYTHING to let youse guys get your voices heard. So…..I need your assurance that after Guthrie's speech, when our party comes to a consensus, you will vote along this consensus in Congress."

"The Hastert rule was created by the Republicans, and even John Boehner didn't…."

"I don't think I've made clear to you what the implications are here, John."

"Oh yes? What are they?" John Rezierski scoffs.

"Someone who's served as long as you have must know how Congress allocates funds. Many highways and college buildings in your state are named after the late Robert Byrd because he managed to get funding for them. The people of your state saw him as the man who got results in Washington, used his influence and improved their lives. You wouldn't want to be seen as the opposite, would you now?"

John shakes his head in disgust. "Natalie, after all this time we've known each other I can't believe I'm hearing this."

"No you listen to me John," Natalie says in a very harsh and passionate tone. "We have a level of control in Congress that our party has NEVER had!" Her voice rises. "We have a two thirds majority in the House AND the Senate, we can override anything James Heller does. Allison Taylor's multiple transgressions gave us a unique opportunity to make a difference for this country. To push for legislation that this country needs, that will allow us to finally emerge us from the past. To build a new America, to bring about real change."

Natalie continues, "John, whatever agreement we reach tonight, you WILL follow with your vote in Congress, or we will see to it that not a single inch of the Coalfields Expressway is built in the next five years. After all, California could use that funding for high-speed rail. And cap and trade can always be improved, can it not?"

"Are you threatening me, Natalie?"

"Oh no, John, just telling it like it is."

CTU

Chloe is analyzing more of the interagency traffic and coordinating with Cole who is now at Omega's headquarters beefing up security with the CTU team.

"Sir," Tanner says to Bailey as the CTU director approaches the station, "The drones are approaching their home base and I can bring them into their landing formations in about fifteen minutes. I'm just wondering if there are any new orders from Washington."

"Unfortunately no, Tanner," Bailey replies, "In fact I was just on the phone personally with Congresswoman Manchetti, the head of the House Intelligence Committee. She was adamant that the drone fleet be grounded after what happened this morning in Kentucky."

"This is freaking unbelievable," Tanner says, "We need eyes in the sky, today more than ever. We need to run aerial support for Cole and for Jack Bauer, and also on the convention site tonight. Our satellites don't have the kind of real time capabilities and quality imaging these drones do."

"I don't like this anymore than you do," Bailey says, "But Congress is adamant. They've already passed legislation limiting our access to schematics and such hence us not knowing the layout of the Omega headquarters building."

RALEIGH COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

Mikhail, Vadim, and Boris's vehicle drives down a gravel roadway into an old farm set in the mountains. There are several structures including a farmhouse, two barns, and stables and chicken coops set in front of a grassy meadow. The 4 wheel drive vehicle pulls up in front of the barn and the Russians get out. They enter the barn and we see that there is a large cache of small arms and explosives inside. A number of American radicals working for Randy are there too.

"They should be delivering Guthrie to us soon, Ilya," Vadim says in Russian to one of the mercenaries inside.

"Is Boris certain that they can reprogram the access codes once Guthrie is here?" Ilya asks, looking at Boris with a concerned look. Boris curses in the Donetsk Russian dialect. "Of course I can. If you question my abilities again, I will put you down like a Ukrainian _sobaka._"

"Ilya was just making sure, da?" Mikhail says, "No need to let the pressure get to us." Mikhail then points to one of the computers. "When Guthrie gets here, we will have full access to Omega and Panhandle's combined resources. Randy will get what he needs to carry out the attack, we get what we agreed upon, and we return to our homeland. I hope to never see this place again."

They walk past the main part of the barn and into the farmhouse where there are several computers set up. Mikhail inserts the two flash drives he got from the law office into different computers and gets to work on a mysterious program.

NEAR THE GUTHRIE ESTATE

We see Jack and the 3 vehicle motorcade driving up into the South Hills, an upper- class, leafy suburban neighborhood with large houses in the hills overlooking the river valley below.

A gardener is tending to some plants in one of Guthrie's neighbors' yard and watering them with a pail. A Jeep comes through the driveway uninvited and pulls up to the front door. The gardener looks up from his work and is instantly shot twice in the chest. We see that the shooter is Randy Jones, who gets out of the car and rings the doorbell.

"Ben?" a woman's voice calls out. "Ben you need anything?" Randy does not answer as his men take position. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, more of Randy's men including some Ukraine Russians, are taking up positions. "No Russian," Randy reminds them, "Speak as little as possible anyway." All his men nod. A woman in casual dress comes to the door and gasps, dropping some cooking utensils when she sees Randy pointing his gun at her.

"You make one fucking sound and I'll shoot you where you stand," Randy threatens.

She nods and whimpers, even more so when she glances out the door and sees some of Randy's men moving the gardener Ben's dead body behind some bushes. "How many people are in here?"

"Just me, my daughter and one housekeeper," the woman says. "Please, take whatever you want, don't hurt us." She has tears streaming down her face and his trembling.

"Where the hell are they?" Randy demands, moving his gun back and forth in front of her face with a wicked expression on his face.

"Carmela, my maid, she's vaccuming upstairs, my baby is also upstairs…in…." she trembles, "In the crib. Please….I beg you, please don't hurt my baby, please….."

Randy shoots her between the eyes and shoves her body forward so hard it goes halfway across the foyer. Randy motions for his men to go clear the house. We see Carmella, a black housekeeper, vacuuming an upstairs hallway as a pair of gunmen sneak up behind and shoot her in the back. They then shoot the vaccum cleaner and there is silence in the house. We see the gunmen enter a baby's room.

Randy's men set up position in the upstairs of the neighbors' house which is on a hill adjacent to the Guthrie estate, a large modern mansion built in the faux-antebellum style of a Southern plantation. We see there are guards from Vanguard Security, Jack's firm, on the grounds. "Remember, make sure we have all egress routes covered," Randy reminds his men, "Hold your fire until they are completely in the estate with the gate sealed behind them. Target is in the last car, repeat target is in the last car. We need Guthrie alive. Kill everyone else, especially Jack Bauer. Do all of you copy?"

"Copy," several men respond.

"Target is heading up the hill," one of Randy's men says.

"Good, Marcus, ETA?"

"About three minutes, they just turned up from Corridor G, they're heading up Bridge Street now, almost in the subdivision," Marcus replies. In a split screen we see Jack and Guthrie's motorcade heading up a steep road twisting alongside the South Hills.

Randy checks his weapons as he takes up a position a few hundred feet away from Guthrie's house. We see on his PDA marking the locations of his men that they have the Guthrie estate surrounded with men stationed on both residential streets heading off this hilltop.

"So this is all it comes down to," Marcus comments, "All this planning."

"You would never know," Randy says with a determined and satisfied expression on his face. "Everything's going according to our plans, no screw ups so far. When I was presented with this chance, I couldn't help it."

"Martin's men have things under control in Morgantown with the daughter?"

"Yes, as insurance. If we don't need her, Martin has orders to dispose of her, and I'm going to make that bastard Clay watch it. I don't think that piece of shit even knows who I am but I'll show him, and I'll show this entire fucking country. Clay, and the system he's part of took everything from me. After all I've done for this country and those people. After today, my family will finally rest in peace."

WHITE HOUSE OVAL OFFICE

"Audie, what's wrong, sweetie?" President Heller says with a concerned look.

Audrey is shaking in rage. "That….I can't believe that bitch has the gall to…..I've never had someone speak to me that way in an official capacity."

"I take it that conference call with the Democrats didn't go too well," Heller comments. "What did Manchetti say to you? Those people…..they have NO respect for decency, none whatsoever. Lord help us through until the next election season."

"She's demanding more access from CTU, more intelligence sharing. She blamed today's attacks on us and our failure to prevent them even they _they _are the ones who downsized CTU and the military and tied our hands behind our backs. And of course Manchetti reminded me of the Democrats complete dominance of Congress and their complete override power against us. She also stands on her demands that the drone fleet remain grounded pending a Congressional investigation into what happened in Kentucky."

"Hmm, I'm surprised she didn't spill her usual bullshit and talk about how we need to examine the 'root causes' of why people feel they have no other choice to commit mass murder, the way Senator Osana blamed the 'oppression and humiliation' of the Palestinian people as the cause of Hamas's rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Speaking of which, I'm actually glad that man's not attending the DNC because of that petty little boycott."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Manchetti was the one who leaked Taylor's decisions regarding the Omar Hassan handover and the Sangala intervention to her friends in the media," Audrey says. "As a member of the Intelligence Committee she no doubt had access had access to that information. Dad, I don't know if it's the right decision to tune her in to what's happening today."

Heller didn't show his approval or disapproval. "And that is your professional opinion?"

"Yes, dad," Audrey tells him, "Manchetti will comb through every detail, through every decision we, CTU or anyone makes regarding today's crisis and use it against us. It's all come to a head today. The gloves are off and nobody's mincing words anymore. Manchetti and the Democrat Party's progressive wing are on a crusade to destroy us and our vision for America. Her and Brother Guthrie are two sides of the same coin. The time for compromise is over. With Mark, even when you fired him, we had to make it seem cordial, for the sake of our party. Dealing with Manchetti is different. Our electorate expects us to stand our ground, not give in to the other side. We can't afford to show any weakness."

Heller nods. "I agree with you but we must consider how it plays in the media. I won't give her all the cooperation and access she demands, but just enough to get us through today. Audie, have you ever heard Brother Guthrie preach?"

She shakes her head. "No, I haven't."

"We'll let the struggle within the Democrats play out. I've met with John Rezierski, one of the more reasonable individuals in their party and he's very familiar with Guthrie. After the speech tonight, Manchetti may see her influence start to slip."

GUTHRIE ESTATE

Jack and Clay are in the last car in the three-car motorcade as it makes the final bend going uphill toward the faux-antebellum mansion. There is a guard station manned by three private security personnel working for Vanguard. In the distance, the smoke from the bombed office building is still rising into the air and helicopters are circling the area.

"Gate, this is Bauer, we're on approach."

"Copy, Jack, everything's secure, been quiet all day. Opening gate now."

Clay turns to Jack. "Just going to be a couple hours to get everything ready." He checks his phone for messages from his daughter and looks concerned when there's nothing. "Just make sure our team at Yeager Airport is ready for the flight down. I think we should also coordinate with TSA and make sure the hangar is swept again."

Jack nods. "I'll have that taken care of and I'll make sure CTU also secures the landing zone at Myrtle Beach airport."

We see a young ex-military guard in the guard station close the electronic gate to the estate as the motorcade goes into the entryway, a tree-lined lane toward toward the house. The Guthrie estate covers the entire summit are of this hill. Suddenly a sniper bullet hits the first guard on the top of the head and he drops down dead. In quick succession, the two other guards in the station are both head.

"Gate station, thank you." There is no response. "This is Jack do you copy?" Jack looks concerned now.

There is a WHOOSH and three rockets fly onto the property from various directions. One hits the luxury BMW sedan that Guthrie usually drives, right in front of the vehicle they are riding in. "Shit!"

Jack immediately takes evasive maneuvers making a sharp turn through some bushes into a clump of trees. Another rocket hits the lead vehicle, setting it aflame and killing most of the guards on it instantly. One guard runs out screaming as his entire body is on fire. The sniper aims ahead but Randy lowers his arm. "Let that bastard burn," Randy says sadistically with an evil glint in his eye. "Give him an early taste of hell."

A rocket goes through the dining room window and then gunners in the two neighboring houses open fire with machine guns, strafing the area with gunfire. Several Vanguard security officers run out onto the lawn but are all cut down."

OMEGA APPALACHIAN RESOURCES HEADQUARTERS, TEAYS VALLEY, WEST VIRGINIA

We see an unmarked helicopter flying over the Nitro Marketplace Walmart shopping center and the Mardi Gras Racetrack and Casino, heading toward a clump of modern office buildings in the distance. "ETA to target, forty seconds."

Cole Ortiz and a CTU tac team are making their way through the glass lobby of the headquarters building, emerging into the afternoon sunshine. They are escorting several of the senior executives of the company.

Suddenly a missile strikes the CTU chopper outside and several more missiles strike the CTU vehicles. The helicopter flies low and several gunners unleash a furious hail of bullets that cover every inch of the plaza in front of the lobby. The CEO and most of the executives are torn apart within seconds. Cole is now on his back. He aims his AR33 assault rifle and fires at the chopper as it comes around to finish the job. Cole shoots one of the gunners in the arm and he falls from the chopper, screaming as he falls to his death. However the chopper comes back around and strafes the ground with gunfire. Cole aims again but several bullets tear through his chest. He gasps and looks up, then collapses to the ground dead.

GUTHRIE ESTATE

"Stay down and take cover!" Jack shouts to Clay.

"No, I'm helping you stop this," Clay says as he takes out his gun.

"Clay!" Randy shouts through a bullhorn. "I'm just here for you. Put down your weapons so nobody else needs to get hurt."

There are now several armed attackers on the property.

"Go to hell!" Jack yells and opens fire. His aim is perfect. His first bullet hits one of the attackers in the head, his head exploding in a fountain of blood. His second bullet hits another terrorist in the chest and he drops down dead. His third bullet hits the front wheel of a Jeep the attackers are driving onto the estate grounds.

"Clay, we need to retreat into the house, get into…." He's cut off by the sound of gunfire from several direction. Several attackers are trying to leave the Jeep with the shot out tires, which is careening to the left. The Jeep crashes into the walls of a guest house with several terrorists still on board with some having bailed out.

Clay takes his Berretta and shoots one of the man as he's getting up. Another attacker charges at Clay and Jack firing. In a split screen Jack is pulling the pin off a grenade and Clay is reloading his weapon. The attacker continues to charge, firing his gun wildly. "Fuck you!" the crazed man is shouting. Bullets strike the tree and the leaves all around them. Another rocket sails through the air but misses, hitting the fountain in the middle of the driveway sending a wave of water into the air mixed with exploding chunks of cement and masonry. Clay fires three shots and takes down the charging attacker.

Jack hurls the grenade at the crashed Jeep as more terrorists are climbing out. The grenade explodes and we hear the dying screams of several attacks. The explosion swallows up another terrorist trying to run toward Jack burning him up. "Clay, we'll make a run for it now."

"Got it!"

NEIGHBORS HOUSE – LEFT SIDE

"Give me that shit," Randy says, taking out a sniper rifle. Another security guard is seen emerging from behind a side corner of the mansion. Randy squeezes the trigger. The man's head explodes and his body falls to the ground. "Got you, bastard."

NEIGHBORS HOUSE – RIGHT SIDE

In a different neighbors house, this one a contemporary glass house two stories high, more gunmen are taking aim. There is gunfire from Vanguard security teams from the upper levels of the Guthrie home. Several of the terrorists are shot and killed by the return fire but the bad guys' sheer numbers turns the shootout in their favor. Soon most of Guthrie's bodyguards are dead.

"Police cars coming up the hill, take them out" Marcus says from his position.

"Understood," a terrorist replies and runs down the hall. The second man emerges in the front side of the neighbors house and sees three Charleston Police vehicles approaching. He fires a bazooka out the window that strikes the center car, sending flames spreading across a fifty foot radius, demolishing all three cop cars and killing all the officers on them instantly.

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack and Clay are pinned down in the clump of trees, both of them exchanging fire with Randy's men. Cole's dead body is lying on the ground and the plaza in front of the OAR headquarters building is littered with dead bodies and wounded civilians. The helicopter filled with Randy's men is flying along the Kanawha River heading for South Hills with the suburban landscape whizzing by below. Melanie, the analyst coordinating the field ops is trying to call Cole with no response. Rebekah Guthrie is tied up in a chair in a bare cinderblock room being guarded by armed kidnappers.

CTU

"Cole, come in! Cole! Dammit!" Melanie yells. "Chloe, bring up the satellite feed now."

Chloe types several commands into her keyboard. There is static on the screen and none of the field teams at Omega headquarters are responding. "There's still a lag time," she says, "This is all because of your goddess Manchetti!" she says angrily at Melanie, "She's the one who forced us to ground the drones when they coulda taken out the helicopter. If anything happened to Cole I swear….."

"Calm down, Chloe," Bailey says, "We have to remain calm. We don't know what the situation on the ground is yet."

"Yes, calm down Chloe," Melanie says in a snotty tone of voice. "We have to operate within the confines of the law, within decency of course. That Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida cowboy stuff won't fly. I guess you also don't deal with change too well, well this isn't the old CTU anymore. We're accountable to the government, like we should be."

"I don't believe this!" Chloe says and gets up from her desk.

"Chloe!" Bailey shouts, "We need you here! We are in the middle of a crisis."

Chloe brushes past him and snarls at Melanie, "Since you're so connected to this government why don't you call Manchetti and get them to give us the visual support we need! You people always put political correctness before common sense." Chloe storms out of the room.

Melanie rolls her eyes. "The old CTU, I'm telling you they can't be reformed. There's a reason why Congress made these changes." Tanner just looks at them staying out of this debate.

"Melanie you're out of line," Bailey says, "We have a field team that might be down. Can you two please just work together for ONE DAY without being at each other's throats? We all serve this country, and I'm also part of the so called old crew, in your words."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Just get that satellite in place and update me as soon as you get something!" he says in an aggressive and impatient tone. Bailey goes out into the hallway where Chloe is sitting in a chair by herself with her hands over her head looking very upset.

FRONT LAWN, GUTHRIE ESTATE

Jack and Guthrie make a run for it. It is obvious that the gunfire is all directed at Jack and the attackers are making sure Guthrie is not hit. Three more men are approaching.

"Take him before they reach the house!" Randy orders, "Goddamn it! Motherfucker! Jack Bauer you bastard!"

Jack takes his MP5 and mows down three terrorists who are coming at them. Clay is also providing cover fire. A man in a gazebo by the pond pops up and shoots but Clay shoots him in the head before he does any damage. They are now approaching the front door. In a split screen we see an attacker aiming.

NEIGHBORS HOUSE – RIGHT SIDE

Gunshots ring out behind the terrorist aiming the sniper rifle at Jack.. "What the hell?" the man asks. "Check that out!" We hear more gunshots down the hall. We see the sniper's partner go into the hallway. He is shot several times and falls down dead, his body visible in the doorway. The sniper is about to shoot Jack when he hears his partner's body fall. "Fuck!" he curses and turns the rifle toward the door but is too late.

Kate Morgan charges through the door and shoots the sniper several times in the chest, the rifle dropping to the floor. Kate grabs the sniper rifle and goes to the window.

…..2:58….2:59…..3 PM


	5. Episode 5: 3 PM - 4 PM

CAST

Jude Cicolella – Mike Novick

Jennifer Westfeldt – Meredith Reed

Author's Note: In my previous story "Season 6 Europe" written under the pen name "Tom Lennox", Mike Novick was the Vice President and he resigns at the end of that story. This story is set in a different universe than "Season 6 Europe" and "Season 7: DARK FORCES" which are based on the Season 5 finale.

I started writing this story after Live Another Day began airing, about 3 episodes into it. So in THIS universe, everything about Mike Novick and his family in Season 6 Europe can be disregarded. I hope this season is a pleasure to read for long time fans who've watched all the seasons since Season 1 since there are many references to the past including some little things!

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 3 PM AND 4PM. EVENTS OCCUR IN REAL TIME

NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE

Kate Morgan aims the sniper rifle as in a split screen we see the dead body of the hostile sniper she had just shot. She adjusts the scope as she sees Jack and Clay running toward the front door with a trail of bullets hitting the ground and walls around them. She sees a gunman coming around a large azalea bush and shoots him in the head. Another attacker fires several shots at Jack but Kate takes him down.

NEIGHBORS HOUSE – LEFT SIDE

"What the fuck?" Randy yells. He fires a few more shots at Jack from his position but misses. "Bravo team, come in! Repeat Bravo team this is command, come in!" He shakes his head furious. "Bravo team DO YOU COPY?" he screams. "Goddamn it!" Suddenly a bullet whizzes by him and he hears a thump on the ground. He lowers himself away from the window and sees one of his men lying dead, shot cleanly in the forehead. "Jesus fucking Christ!" he curses.

"We have a sniper in the opposite house. Take him out now!" The other sniper tries to get an aim at Kate but misses. He misses again. His aim is not as good in such a long range. Kate fires another bullet and kills him instantly. "Retreat, head to the ground level, go after them and take Jack down! Alpha I want you to take four men and sweep the other house. Jack has backup on that side! Shit!"

Another one of Randy's comrades is shot and killed in the back as they retreat from the room.

Kate shoots two more men who are targeting Jack.

GUTHRIE RESIDENCE

Jack and Clay burst through the front door of the residence and are met with a string of bullets fired from down the hall. In a street screen, two more terrorists aiming at Jack are sniped to death by Kate. He sees a terrorist firing through the window. Jack quickly shoots him down. Jack takes out a heartbeat sensor device from his pack as they take cover inside the den.

"Clay we need to get you to the safe room. I'll looking at at least ten hostiles converging on the house."

"Jack this is Kate," the radio beeps.

"Kate, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Covering your ass," she replies, "I just covered your entry in the residence. You woulda been killed at least three times if it wasn't for me so do I have different orders now?"

"What's your position?"

"In the house on the left, they had a sniper team across the way too but I took them out along with several hostiles approaching the home."

"Kate!" Bailey says from CTU. "Satellite shows three hostiles entering the house you're in. There is a delay so there's already inside."

"Dammit!" Kate says. She drops the sniper rifle and goes out into the hallway. She emerges on the main staircase into the upstairs above the main foyer of the McMansion and sees a hostile coming up the stairs. She takes a Uzi submachine gun and sprays him with gunfire. Another two terrorists emerge from opposite sides of the foyer. "I'll kill you bitch!" one of them screams, sidestepping and squeezing off several rounds. The bullets slam into the handrails and the painting around the staircase, chunks of plaster flying everywhere and spent casings littering the floor. Kate rolls down the stairs and halfway she fires a quick burst at one of the men's hearts, killing him. The other terrorist shoots again but misses. Kate gets upright again on the floor and neutralizes the third hostile with a furious burst of Uzi fire.

WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Heller, Audrey, Rob Weiss, and Vice President Mike Novick are in the White House Situation Room getting updates from CTU.

"Jack Bauer and Clay Guthrie are pinned down in Guthrie's residence," Rob Weiss informs Heller in the White House. "Their motorcade was attacked about ten minutes ago by unknown forces right after entering the Guthrie estate."

"What? Jack?" Heller says in shock and concern. Audrey's face pales upon hearing this and she is visibly scared for Jack.

"There's more, sir," Rob tells him, "A helicopter with heavily armed hostiles attacked Omega's headquarters killing several senior executives, including Vince Sanchez, their CEO. Additionally an entire CTU Tac team along with CTU's head of field ops, Cole Ortiz are confirmed dead in the attack."

"How the HELL did this happen?" Heller demands.

"Sir, with all due respect, without the drones in the air CTU was basically defenseless. And Jack Bauer needs backup if he and Guthrie are to survive. We believe whoever is targeting them intends to assassinate Pastor Guthrie so he can't give his speech tonight."

Heller nods and tells him and Audrey, "I want the drones in the air again immediately! Where are they now?"

"They were recalled to CTU Southeast Division's main airfield in South Carolina."

"I want the drone fleet in the air immediately and on standby," Heller orders, "What other resources do we have available in the area?"

Rob informs him, "We have the West Virginia National Guard base at Yeager Airport. Their mobile emergency response units and military police forces can be over the scene in a matter of minutes. Their helicopter gunships can take out the outside terrorists from the air and we can insert a rescue team into the main residence. Fortunately we do have the schematics to the house because Guthrie gave Jack permission to share that information with CTU. They're the only technical option now, Charleston Police are pinned down and have taken heavy casualties. They're no match against a force armed with military grade weapons and rockets."

"There is one issue with that, Mr. President," Vice President Mike Novick said. The others in the room look at him. Mike continues, "The Constitution prohibits the use of the military on American soil for law enforcement purposes."

"Law enforcement?" Audrey exclaims, "We have terrorists from God knows where armed with illegal weapons, they've killed hundreds of people today already! We don't know what their endgame is! "

"I know that," Mike says, "But there's no evidence as of now that the people attacking the Guthrie residence are the same ones responsible for the Charleston bombing. And even so, we can't say that there is an ongoing and imminent terror threat without it being called into question by Congress."

"Every fucking thing I do is called into question by Congress!" Heller thunders, "Pardon my French. The Congressional Democrats in both houses of Congress have had us in their crosshairs since the day I took office! Taylor's mistakes have only given them even more ammunition. Those people would rather put American lives at risk than support drone strikes against terrorists in foreign countries. They think illegal aliens should be rewarded for their illegality. Some of them even say America is to blame for what Margot al-Harazi, Habib Marwan, and Abu Fayed did because we somehow 'oppressed' them! They live in a different reality! There is no reasoning with them!"

"Look, I agree with your assessment and for than most people I know what Jack Bauer means to you and what he's done for our country, but I'm trying to protect you politically."

"Mike, even now, you're thinking about politics?" Audrey yells at him. "I will NOT just stand by while this government just leaves Jack to rot AGAIN!"

Heller holds up a hand and Audrey stops. "Please continue, Mike."

He nods. "The Democrats liberal wing is already out for blood over the drone use earlier. If we dispatch armed soldiers to respond to what's technically a crime scene, the ramifications may be more than we can handle. The Democrats will do everything they can to destroy you. Their liberal lawyers, and their friends at Amnesty Global will find a way to claim abuse of power, and violation of the Constitution."

"Remember we had Air Force jets take out the house Abu Fayed was suspected to be in, and you yourself was rescued by the Marines during your kidnapping by Marwan's men, Mr. President," Rob points out.

"Again I agree with you," Mike says, "But you're preaching to the choir here. I'm just giving my assessment on what's best for not just this situation, but for your presidency, sir. It's about how the Democrats in Congress will see it. And this situation differs than the past precedents given that all if not most of the terrorists today are believed to be American citizens. You will be using military force, in a law enforcement operation, and killing US citizens. Even if they're engaged in criminal activity. Despite Congress's backing for the heavy handedness of EPA and BLM operations they will not see the irony in their stance."

Heller nods. "Thank you Mike for your assessment. It's been noted."

"Dad, I honestly don't think we can do any worse with Congress. Jack's LIFE is in danger right now. We must do whatever it takes to save him and Pastor Guthrie. Without Guthrie speaking tonight at the Democrat convention, the progressive wing of the party will rule the day and you won't be able to stop the destructive changes both you and I and half the electorate knows will do great damage to this country economically and socially."

"I agree," President Heller says, "Rob, get those troops on site now. And may God have mercy on us today."

GUTHRIE RESIDENCE

In a split screen we see Jack and Clay going into the large opulent dining area and kitchen as more terrorists are entering the main house. Randy and several of his men are running across the huge front lawn and fountain holding their guns and sweeping the area. We see the dead bodies of the Vanguard Security personnel scattered all over the place. Suddenly a shot rings out and whizzes by Randy's ear. He sees it is a wounded bodyguard working for Jack. He and another of his men spray the wounded man with gunfire.

"Launch another wave into the house now," Randy orders as he slings his automatic weapon over his shoulder. "Marcus you copy? How are things down there?"

NEIGHBORHOOD STREET

Marcus's comrade takes a sniper rifle and shoots down another police officer and another rocket is deployed at a police car pulling up the hill. This rocket also makes a direct hit on the top of the police car. The police car explodes and the burning hulk tumbles off the hill, landing on a residential street below. A FedEx truck swerves to avoid hitting the burning police car and hits some parked cars.

"The police are taken care of for now," Marcus says.

"Good, take your men and come up. Guthrie has a safe room inside his property. My people are trying to access the codes remotely and disable access but that doesn't seem likely. The safe room is located in the basement."

Jack and Clay duck beneath the dining room table as Jack checks the heartbeat sensor. There are several hostiles approaching from the pool deck. Jack fires through a set of French doors heading out into the patio and pool deck taking the attackers by surprise. All of them are killed before getting off a single shot, two of their bodies falling into the pool. Suddenly a trail of bullets appear kicking up the water from the pool. A terrorist is sidestepping and firing at the dining room. Jack ducks and reloads. He gets back up and shoots the man through the heart, his body tumbling down some patio stairs, causing another approaching terrorist to stumble. Jack shoots and kills the other terrorist as well.

"Clay, we're clear for now, let's head to the safe room now. President Heller just authorized the use of a National Guard unit to rescue."

"National Guard? I thought CTU….."

"Cole's team must be handling a situation with Omega headquarters," Jack tells him, not knowing the truth about what happened there. "The Guard base at Yeager Airport is a much shorter flight time than from Teays Valley."

Clay nods as he checks his gun. They head down toward the basement as more attackers burst through the front door, including Randy himself. They run through an entertainment room in the basement and into the utility room where the safe room is located. Jack takes his keycard from Vanguard Security and swipes it. BEEP! BEEP! ENTRY UNAUTHROIZED! The display reads.

"Dammit!" Jack curses. "I'm the founder of this company this….." he types a code into the keypad. "DAMMIT!" Jack yells loudly now and looks at Clay. "Somebody changed the codes, I don't know how this can happen?" He gets back on the phone with CTU.

"Aaron this is Bauer, somebody reprogrammed the access codes to the safe room we're trapped out."

"Who would do that?" Bailey yells.

"The terrorists must have someone either in my company or in the government," Jack says.

"Christ!" Bailey curses. "I'm going to get Chloe O'Brian to try to reprogram it…."

Shots ring out. Clay turns and shoots a terrorist coming through the door.

Jack punches the safe room door in a rage and shakes his head. "We're going to have to hold them off until the military gets here."

AIRBORNE OVER DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON WV

Two military helicopters lift off from the West Virginia National Guard base at Yeager Airport and fly over the the main civilian terminal building, on a straight vector across downtown Charleston. The pile of rubble from the bombed building is seen below as they overfly the city center.

"CTU, this is Major Sam Pennington of the West Virginia National Guard, we are en route to target, ETA 5 minutes," the squad commander says into his headset. A split screen shows the other National Guard chopper flying against the hilly backdrop of Charleston.

"Roger that," Aaron Bailey says, pacing around the main floor of CTU, "We just received word from the White House that they approved your involvement. About time if you ask me. We're forwarding the schematics to the Guthrie residence and grounds now, confirm that you receive it."

Major Pennington looks down on his PDA which is hooked up to an electronic display screen on board the helicopter. The schematics show up. It is a two level house with a basement, plus a swimming pool and a large lawn. "Just got it."

"Good," Bailey says, "Thanks to the grounding of my drone fleet earlier this morning we don't have exact live intel on the number of hostiles you are dealing with. Per the President's orders you are authorized to use unrestrictive force against any hostiles on the grounds and vicinity but making sure Guthrie and Jack Bauer are alive is your primary objective. We believe they will head to the safe room in the basement, where they can shelter in place."

"I understand," Pennington says, "We will give you updates ASAP once we're on the ground."

Pennington turns to his men to make sure they all understand their orders. Each and every one of them nod.

"Them the sons of bitches that are responsible for the bombing?" one of his soldiers, a young black man, says.

Major Pennington nods. "We believe so. And the fact that they are American citizens pisses me off even more. Y'all heard your orders, Jack and Guthrie's safety are our priority, but we're going to get some payback against these bastards."

CTU

"Chloe, I just linked us to the Vanguard Security company servers you should be getting access to the safe room in two minutes," Melanie Andrews tells her.

"2 minutes is that really the best you can go?" Chloe says giving her a classic Chloe look.

"First of all, I did that before you asked for it," Melanie snaps back, "And its this computer, if you're so smart why don't you design a faster model?"

Chloe rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Just make sure everything's right!"

SPLIT SCREENS

Heller and his advisors including Audrey are getting updates in the White House Situation Room. The National Guard helicopters are now flying over riverfront going toward South Hills. Jack and Clay are in the house finding a way out of the basement.

GUTHRIE RESIDENCE

"Randy, we have two military choppers heading our way, we don't have much time!" Marcus informs Randy from his position outside the residence. Below him, there is panic in the streets amid the burning police cars and dead officers who had been responding to the emergency.

"Got it," Randy says. "Fuck!" He makes sure his assault rifle is fully loaded as he goes down stairs. "CLAY!" he shouts, "Don't you think there's been enough killing? Your entire security team is dead. Surrender yourself now! I guess your life is more important than all these men we had to kill? Most of them probably had families!" He continues to taunt him. You let them die! Is your life really worth so much more than theirs? Huh?"

Randy and several of his men get into the basement but there is nobody there except for the attacker that Clay had killed. He turns back up into the ground floor of the home. Jack and Clay are now in the upstairs, going into a master bedroom. Suddenly a flashbang grenade is tossed him. "Cover your ears, close your eyes!" Jack yells at Clay.

There is a loud bang and Jack is still deafened. He fires off several shots as the terrorists open fire. Jack fires desperately at the men but there are more coming. Randy charges at Clay and grabs him, pushing him over a bed and the two grappling as they go into the marble bathroom. Clay grabs a glass panel from the medicine cabinet and swings it at Randy but misses. Randy destroys the panel and grabs one of the glass shards. Clay takes his gun but Randy slashes his arm, drawing blood.

Jack emerges in the door and tries to fires but his gun is out of bullets. The sounds of the approaching helicopters can be heard. Jack grabs Randy from behind and goes for his gun. Randy gets off two shots but they strike an approaching terrorist instead. Several more shots later Randy is also out of bullets in that gun.

Randy visciously kicks Clay in the side of the head and Clay flies into the bathroom mirror, which shatters and he falls down unconscious. Randy takes out a knife and Jack does the same. "Jack Bauer is it? American hero my ass. If you were smart you would be doing what I'm doing. The people you serve don't give a flying fuck about you."

"Go to hell," Jack yells as Randy charges with him with the knife. Jack blocks his blow and stabs Randy in the chest, hitting a rib. Randy kicks Jack in the knees knocking him down. He kicks Jack again, getting Jack out of the bathroom, he then grabs a lamp and shatters it on Jack's head. Jack gets back up and swipes Randy to the ground, punching him twice in the face hard but Randy is still coming at him in a rage. Randy reaches the dead terrorist in the room and takes his gun, shooting Jack twice through the vest. Jack flies backward into a nightstand knocking it over.

RESIDENCE GROUNDS

Suddenly the entire house shakes and the windows shatter. A fireball is seen outside as the National Guard fires a missile and takes out the terrorists' chopper. Several more missiles are fired at the terrorists' other vehicles parked on or near the Guthrie property. Randy aims the gun at Jack's head and is about to pull the trigger when a helicopter with soldiers pull up outside the window. In a split screen, the other chopper is flying low and soldiers are coming out, led by Major Pennington.

Kate is now on the main floor of the home. She fires several shots at Randy as he slides and rolls down the stairs. Randy fires at Kate again and Kate ducks behind a corner, bullets pocketing the wall behind her. Kate draws her weapon again and steps into the foyer shooting at Randy but Randy is too quick and she misses. They both reload as Randy runs down the hall. He shoots Kate through the arm and she falls down screaming. Randy wants to finish her off but a platoon of National Guardsmen are coming in from the other side.

Randy fires four shots at the soldiers in the helicopter and leaves the room. By now Marcus is on the grounds now after climbing up the hill. Marcus goes for a shotgun and fires several blasts at the soldiers. The National Guardsmen take defensive positions. Split screens show the soldiers taking down most of the remaining terrorists who don't stand a chance against the US military.

"C'mon Randy we have to depend on Martin now," Marcus says, urging his comrade on. In a split screen, Pennington and his men fire furiously as several retreating terrorists, cutting down six men. A final terrorist is escaping but a helicopter strafes him with gunfire.

SOUTH HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD

Randy and Marcus take them way down the hill, rushing through several backyards. "Hold your fire, silencers on we don't want to draw attention," Randy says. He then whispers, "I will get Jack Bauer, and I will kill him personally along with Guthrie when his usefulness is done. I wanted us to handle this ourselves not rely on Martin."

"But we made a statement here through this very attack," Marcus said, "We need to regroup, call Martin, but we're still on our way to accomplishing our goals. CTU knows nothing about the real attack that's going to take place. "

The two men emerge on a residential street and see a man getting out of his Nissan sedan in his garage. "Excuse me, sir?" Randy says, getting his attention. The man turns around and by then both Randy and Marcus are in the garage. Marcus takes out a silenced pistol and shoots the man dead. They get into the Nissan, back out of the garage, and drive off.

MYRTLE BEACH CONVENTION CENTER

We see an exterior shot of the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and the adjacent Marriott Hotel. In split screens we see news reporters set up on the scene and signs with the Democrat Party symbols and flags on the main stage of the largest ballroom. Speaker of the House Joseph O'Malley excuses himself from the main auditorium where things are being set up for the Democrat National Convention. He goes into one of the private business centers in the convention center/hotel and nods to the Secret Service agent outside. "This is a very sensitive meeting, nobody sees or hears what's going on in here."

"Yes, sir," the Secret Service agent responds politely but O'Malley doesn't acknowledge him and simply closes the door. Joseph O'Malley has a very smug, elitist, and arrogant personality. Meredith Reed and Natalie Manchetti are waiting for them in the room.

"Ms. Reed," O'Malley says, "Loved your coverage of my run for office amid those trumped up gerrymandering complaints by the Maryland GOP."

Meredith nods. "Thank you Mr. Speaker."

"So Meredith," O'Malley says, "You said that you have something important for us, something about James Heller and his conduct in office?" Natalie also looks at her intently and adds, "We need to know what it is if as you say it's something concerning today's events. If you even think you have something on Heller, Audrey, or anyone in that administration I want to know about it."

Meredith opens up an attachment on her computer. "This footage was taken from a local news chopper in West Virginia less than an hour ago. My contacts at the NBC station in the Charleston-Huntington media market told me the White House explicitly demanded that this not be shown in the name of national security following today's attack."

They all look as the video and Meredith explains, "This of course is Pastor Guthrie's house, which was attacked by an unknown force of armed men less than an hour ago. His head of security is none other than the infamous Jack Bauer, who started his private security firm, Vanguard Security, and took this contract, his first one upon his return to the United States. President Heller used the West Virginia National Guard to relieve Jack along with Pastor Guthrie."

"What? How could he? This is insane!" Natalie screams. O'Malley also looks shocked.

Meredith continues, "Especially given that there is no declaration of martial law and no congressional approval, this use of the US military in what's essentially a law enforcement matter is a grave violation of the law and an abuse of power by James Heller. Furthermore, I believe he did this because of his and Audrey's personal connections with Bauer."

"This is unbelievable," O'Malley says, "The President of the United States using military force against American citizens." The video is now showing the missile attack on the terrorists' helicopter. "This in addition to Heller's medical condition, and him letting his personal concern for Bauer get in the way. Not to mention his personal interest in whatever presentation Guthrie has planned for tonight."

"I believe," Natalie tells O'Malley, "That we have the grounds for an emergency impeachment not only for James Heller, but for Vice President Novick who no doubt knew about this and did nothing to stop it. This is as important if not more important than stopping Guthrie's speech."

O'Malley nods, "I wouldn't be surprised if its Guthrie's own people who staged these attacks to detract from our revolutionary ideals and the changes we are finally going to bring to America. But we will find a way to leak this video to the public via the Internet so Meredith's friends in the media aren't held responsible. If we're lucky, Heller and Novick will be out of the White House in the next 24 hours."

"Next in succession would be the Speaker of the House," Natalie says with a sly, devious grin. "I will also ensure that the Blue Dogs are sidelined."

"It will be my pleasure to advance our party's ideals in whatever capacity I'm chosen for," O'Malley replies.

GUTHRIE ESTATE

Both military helicopters have now landed on the grounds of the Guthrie estate and the troops are going room to room securing it. A wounded terrorist points his gun at Pennington and the Major shoots him twice, making sure he's dead. Pennington walks over to Jack and Clay who are sitting in front of the house, dazed after the ordeal, Clay more so than Jack. Kate is being treated next to them by a paramedic who tells her she only had a flesh wound. She is being bandaged up.

"Mr. Bauer, I'm Major Samuel Pennington, WV National Guard, we responded per the President's orders, this property is now secure."

"Glad y'all showed up," Jack tells him, "Anyone alive for questioning? We need to get to the bottom of this."

"Unfortunately all of the terrorists on site are dead. We don't know if any of them managed to slip away but we have a perimeter set up in a four block radius. All of their vehicles have been destroyed."

Jack nods. "Okay, thank you."

He walks over to Kate. "As your boss I gave you a direct order to stay at the church."

"What are you going to do, fire me?" Kate says back, "And you should be glad I'm as bad as following orders as you are. You never would have made it into the house I I didn't provide cover fire and take out the snipers targeting you."

Jack nods and sighs. "I guess you're right. We both owe you our lives. I was just concerned about you and your child."

"I can take care of myself, Jack, you should know that by now," Kate replies.

Jack's phone rings and he picks it up.

"Aaron, why wasn't the CTU Tac team the one to respond?"

"That's what I'm calling about Jack," Bailey says solemnly, "The helicopter the military destroyed was used to attack Omega's headquarters as the executive board was being evacuated. Most of the board members and the entire CTU team, including Cole Ortiz, was wiped out. They didn't stand a chance and we didn't have a live feed because the drones had been recalled."

Jack and the people with him all have a very pained look on their faces. "I'm going to find the people responsible, I swear to God," Jack says. "Who the hell are these guys? Any idea?"

"None so far. We believe two of the terrorists escaped but the drones aren't back in position yet. Honestly, they can be anywhere by now."

"Okay, keep me posted, Aaron," Jack says.

SPLIT SCREENS

Rebekah Guthrie is tied up with armed men guarding her. A Mustang sports car is pulling up to the area where Rebekah is being held at. That screen disappears and is replaced by Natalie, Meredith, and O'Malley shaking hands with a conspiratorial expression on their faces and leaving the private conference room, rejoining the others getting ready in the convention hall. Randy and Marcus get out of their stolen Honda in the busy parking lot of a Chick fil A restaurant and get into a minivan driven by one of their men.

GUTHRIE ESTATE

"Pastor, I know you're shaken up by what just happened but I need your help," Jack tells him as Kate sits down next to them on the front steps of the residence. The area is still swamped with National Guard soldiers. "The man who attacked us in the bedroom, he seemed to be in charge and obviously had something personal against you. Do you know him or remember seeing him anywhere before?"

Clay shakes his head. "No, I've never seen him before in my life. I have no idea who he is. You should be looking into pro-abortion extremist groups, you and CTU."

"CTU is looking through a list of potential suspects as we speak but hasn't come up with anything yet. Most of the most radical pro-abortion extremists on our watch list live in states far from here. None have been reported in West Virginia within the past two weeks. Granted we can only check airlines and car rentals and EZ Pass accounts and they can have other ways of getting here."

Clay's cell phone rings. It is an unidentified number. He, Jack, and Kate all look suspicious and he picks it up.

"Hello?"

"I told you I'm not through with you," Randy Jones says from the van.

"Who are you and what do you want with me? If we have our political and religious differences we can settle them in a civilized debate."

"No, Clay, you're going to pay attention to me, and you are going to watch the video I'm texting you now. And ask our modern day Captain America there next to you to not waste his time tracing this call cause it a secure line."

There is a text message alert and Clay opens up a video. He gasps. "Oh my God." It shows Rebekah tied up in a chair in the cinder block room. Martin Wright slaps her hard on the face and she yelps in pain. Tears are falling down her face.

"You know, Clay, if you had just surrendered earlier, it wouldn't have had to come to this. Our attack on your house would have been a statement, just like the attacks this morning and that would have been it. But you forced my hand. You hide behind your security, behind your influence, just like you hid behind the corruption of the government all those years."

"As God is my witness, we will find out who you are, and we'll kill you if you or any of your men hurt my daughter anymore."

"How much she gets hurt is up to you, Clay," Randy sneers, "Let's see if YOU will hide behind your own daughter. I'm going to provide you with a live feed of your little Rebekah there. You can make us stop, when you promise to turn yourself in to my men. I'm going to make you pay for your sins, Clay, and I'm going to send a message to the rotting cesspool that is America. You will surrender yourself, with no police or CTU interference, or you will watch your daughter die slowly."

….3:58…3:59….4:00 PM.


	6. Episode 6: 4 PM- 5 PM

Author's Note – Just watched Live Another Day Episode 9…..if Heller really is dead then this is where this story truly becomes alternative universe cause everything else up to this point could have still happened.

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 4 PM AND 5 PM. EVENTS OCCUR IN REAL TIME

CONCRETE ROOM

Martin Wright slaps Rebekah hard on the face again, this time hard enough to knock her off her chair. He motions his men holding the camcorder to make sure that the live feed is visible to Jack and Clay as well as to Randy. Martin kicks her hard in the stomach and Rebekah yelps and cries out in intense pain. "Stop!" she screams, "Please!"

"Clay," Randy says through the phone, "Do you hear her? Maybe the audio isn't good enough. Your daughter is begging for help! Only you can make us stop!"

Martin then grabs Rebekah by the neck and throws her over a table, then slams her against a wall. He grabs a fistful of her hair and yanks it out hard. He does it a second time, pieces of her hair flying in front of the camera.

"OKAY! OKAY!" Clay begs, giving in, "I'll surrender myself to you. Just stop that, in the name of God."

"I'm impressed, Clay," Randy tells him, "I thought it would take a lot more than this. You sure about this? No second thoughts, preacher?"

"Just tell me what you want me to do," Clay says.

"Pastor, with all due respect, I think you must….." Jack starts saying to Clay.

"I'm going, Jack!" Clay says with finality, "You would do the same for Kim, you know that."

"Remember, Clay, no police, no CTU involved except for them delivering you. I'm not a patient man, Clay, so you better deliver yourself quickly. Here are my instructions. You will have that military helicopter drop you off at Campground A in Kanawha State Forest. My men will meet you there on the ground. There will be no surveillance on you. I assure you I'm good at what I do, and unless you follow my instructions precisely, your daughter will die. Look around your house, Clay, I hope I'm convinced you of how far I'm willing to go to get what I want."

GUTHRIE ESTATE

"Pastor, that is suicide," Jack tells him.

"If Jesus Christ can die for all of us, I can die for my daughter," Clay says. "I'm not the President of the United States. I have a right to make this decision. But I must ask you Jack, what's your analysis on this situation?"

"I don't know what their endgame is, but they want to make a statement to the country," Jack tells him, "It's very likely they will torture and kill you with a live online feed. Frame it as a victory against capitalism, corporate America, what have you."

"You need to come with me, I have something for you," Jack says, walking quickly toward the partially demolished guest house that he had been living in. They walk past the terrorist vehicle that had crashed through the wall and go into Jack's room. Jack opens up a safe and shows Guthrie a syringe filled with a blue chemical inside.

"We can't trust CTU or anyone in the government or maybe even in Vanguard right now, there has to be a mole given that they reprogrammed the access code to the safe room, they knew what vehicle we were in and didn't target it, so that they could get you alive. This is a new chemical tracker that my friend recently developed at Omicron International after he took it over. It's not available to CTU yet and there is no device that can detect it unlike a physical bug. I will know exactly where you are. For now myself and Kate Morgan will be the only ones who have access to the tracker data. I trust Kate with my life, she's clean I guarantee it."

"How long will it last?" Clay asks.

"Up to 12 hours," Jack replies, "it's proven to be safe in animal trials but this is our first live use. It's not officially approved by the government yet hence them not having access to this technology as of now. At least that we know of."

"Good, I don't have any time to waste now, Jack," Clay says, "I never trusted the feds anyway. With all due respect to the Hellers who are a unique exception, the government is not my friend. I've known that my entire life. They have a lot of people fooled, but they don't got me fooled. I believe in God, and I believe in my family and friends."

He takes his seat in the chopper and Jack injects him with the syringe. Jack checks his PDA and sees that the chemical tracker is working. "Good, you position is showing nice and clear."

"But we need to find out your daughter's location somehow," Jack says, "These people are merciless and I highly doubt they'll just let her go. Besides she's seen their faces already, she already knows too much."

"I know, I just need to buy her some time," Clay replies. He adds, "My people, people I trust, will get in contact with you. They are taking care of things now."

"People you can trust? You, pastor? With all due respect what the hell are you talking about? What have you not told me?" Jack asks.

"You'll see, Jack," Clay says he closes the door and asks the pilot to lift up. The helicopter flies away churning up dust, quickly rising over the suburban neighborhood, overflying the old Confederate fort and heading toward the nearby forest.

DOWNTOWN MORGANTOWN

We see the black Mustang parked on the narrow street outside the building where Rebekah Guthrie is being held. It is revealed that the driver is her fiancée Andy Kim. He talks into a Bluetooth device. "I'm parked outside what looks to be the main door, are you in position?" We see one of his men approaching a nearby building that houses student apartments. "Almost," he says. "Give me a few more minutes."

"Hurry up, Brian, we don't know audio, I don't know what's going on in there, she may be running out of time. Dammit we're supposed to have been in their ages ago this should never have come this far. Dwayne, come in."

"I'm here on the other side, remember we can't attract any attention right now."

Brian, a young man dressed like a college student sees a group of students wearing WVU mascots swipe themselves in the door to the student apartments. "Sorry my card again, thank God y'all are here." Two of the students, wearing Delta Delta Delta sorority letters, give him a flirty smile as does the female student working at the reception desk. Brian takes the elevator to the top floor.

"Okay," Andy says, "The tracker shows that Rebekah's being held in the center of the building in an interior room, on the second floor. Dwayne you will approach the fire escape and enter from the third floor to come at them from behind while I'll take the main door after we neutralize as many hostiles as we can from the outside. Thanks to Rebekah's tenacity earlier our enemies are already down a few men, thank the Lord for that."

WHITE HOUSE

Jack's phone rings and he sees that it's Audrey calling.

Audrey is pacing outside on the South Portico of the White House talking into her phone. "Jack! What happened? I was so scared!" Audrey says quivering.

"I don't know, the National Guard was able to relieve us but I have a bad feeling about this. Whoever these guys are they went into this much trouble, this many layers of backup plans, to make sure they get Clay Guthrie. I think it's more than revenge, more than even making a public statement." Jack is getting in his car and speeding fast down the ramp onto the Interstate, heading toward the Greenbrier Street exit where Revelations Church is located. Kate is next to him, looking at her PDA for more updates from state police and Kanawha County deputies.

"It's probably our initial theory about preventing Guthrie was speaking tonight. There must be something about his presentation. I'm guessing the transcript of his speech is secret?"

"It is, but what can he possibly say that isn't on the Internet already?" Jack wonders, "He's a captivating speaker, and I've listened in on some of his sermons. He's good, but he hasn't convinced me to go up to the altar and get saved. People like Manchetti and O'Malley aren't going to change their minds about their proposed legislation just through a speech."

"Maybe it IS revenge, Jack," Audrey said, "I know how much it hurts to bring this up, but remember what the Drazens did to get revenge on you and David Palmer over Operation Nightfall. They blew up an entire plane killing over a hundred people."

"That was Ira Gaines' assassin Mandy, the Drazens didn't plan that particular part."

"But they knew something like that might happen," Audrey points out, "And they found Nina to be a mole. All this for personal reasons. Not to mention Margot Al-Harazi and Samir Mehran, they didn't care how many lives were lost in their quest for personal revenge."

"I don't know, but something just doesn't add up. We have a trail of innocent bodies from Huntington to Morgantown, countless hostiles involved, and we don't even know who's in charge of this. I don't trust anyone right now. Someone even reprogrammed the safe room codes, someone knew our position in the motorcade coming back from the church."

Audrey looks shocked. "What? Who do you think it can be?" She pauses, "This is not good, Jack. Most people we knew have been purged from CTU. You're right, you can't trust anyone right now. It's also possible that they've infiltrated your company."

"I'm looking into that now, I'm almost back at the church at our security base. But we've shared all our info with CTU as well so they have everything that we have."

"I do intend to lay low before I can figure out who to trust but I injected a chemical tracker into Clay. He's at the pickup point in the state forest now, the National Guard just dropped him off. He's moving fast toward the eastern entrance of the forest toward the edge of Kanawha City. I'm going to be following a few miles behind him in a different vehicle."

"What kind of backup do you have?"

"None right now. There are a couple guys left at the church, the rest of the Vanguard staff were all killed. The entire CTU team too including Cole Ortiz," Jack says sadly. "There's one more thing. Before Clay got on that chopper, he hinted that he has people on the inside helping him as well. I don't know where this is going but I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

"What do you mean Clay Guthrie said he has his own resources? How do you know you can trust him?"

Jack sighs. "He's got a lot of explaining to do and if he's crossed the line me and him are going to have some words but he won't do anything to actively harm the country. And he'll do anything to save his daughter, even if it's just to buy her some more time."

Audrey shakes her head to herself as she stands on the White House lawn. "I….I just can't lose you again, Jack," she says, tearing up and her voice breaking. "Why does it always have to be you? You don't work for the government anymore. I don't think this is even in Vanguard's contract with Guthrie, and even if it is, you can break the contract. It's not worth your life, Jack. After all you've been through. After all _we've_ been through, you don't need to do this. Just forfeit the contract, get out of there, and come back to me. My father and I will make sure you're taken care of."

Jack is silent for a long time, thinking, like he is considering following her advice. "It's not that simple, Audrey. I've spent so much of the last decade abroad, I've come back with nothing and Guthrie took me in, helped me get started again. And besides, I feel there's a conspiracy going deep into the government and there may be more at stake than just Guthrie's life. If that's the case I'm the only person you and the President can trust."

"And you have no backup? Just you and Kate?" Audrey asks.

"I really don't know right now. Guthrie said there's people who will be in contact with me, people that he trusts with his life but I don't know right now. Seems like everyone playing their own game. Audrey you have to trust my instinct on this. It's kept me alive this long."

Audrey walks back into the White House, going past a picture of David Palmer. "Just keep me updated, Jack. I love you."

"I love you too, Audrey," Jack replies.

Audrey sits down at a chair in the hallway just inside the South Portico and starts sobbing.

CTU/REVELATIONS CHURCH

Chloe's phone rings. "O'Brian," she answers.

"Chloe it's me, don't let anyone else in CTU know I'm calling you. The terrorists have someone on the inside and you're the only person I can trust in there."

"Thanks for stating the obvious, you're wasting time," Chloe snaps.

Jack gets out of his car and walks toward the main entrance of Revelations Church, which is now guarded by state troopers. He goes into the expansive modern lobby and heads down a long corridor toward his security office. The church is now deserted after the special services earlier.

"I'm going to run a back trace on the signals that reprogrammed the safe room," Chloe says, "It's going to take a few minutes."

"Okay, stay on the line," Jack says and Chloe takes out a remote earpiece and types in some commands on the digital phone on her desk. She gets up from her chair.

"Chloe, where are you going?" Bailey asks.

"I'm….I need to run an update on the servers and make sure the satellite program is running correctly, checking any possible leads from the Guthrie mansion."

"I can do that for you," Melanie offers, flashing Bailey a friendly smile. "I have the access level required for that."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Chloe snaps at her. "And in case I have to remind you, I outrank you, and you don't give me orders."

"I was just offering to help, jeez," Melanie says, rolling her eyes.

Bailey follows Chloe into the hallway leading to the server room. "Is there a problem, Chloe?" he asks.

"No, sir. It's just a very stressful day and I'm trying to get on top of things."

"You and everyone else here," Bailey says, "I don't know what it is between you two, but I need you two to put y'alls differences aside at least for today. This is the biggest crisis that this division has ever had to deal with. People in Washington are watching us. The future of this organization may depend on how we do today. Do you understand, Ms. O'Brian? Answer me!"

Chloe nods. "Yes, I do. Until I can train Melanie better, I'm the best at running these updates and protocols. I will be back at my desk as soon as it's done."

"Good," Bailey says.

UNMARKED WAREHOUSE, MORGANTOWN

Brian gets off the elevator at the top floor of the student apartments and goes into a stairwell. He shoots out the trapdoor leading to the roof and climbs up the metal stairs, emerging on the roof under the blue sky. Busy traffic from the streets below is heard as is the wind whistling through the air. He assembles his sniper rifle quickly with a suppressor but he takes no chances. He waits until several automated rail cars on the adjacent Morgantown PRT (personal rapid transit) cross over the bridge on the other side of the warehouse. He aims below and shoots one of Martin's guards in the head. The other guard outside does not hear his comrade fall due to the noise from the traffic and the PRT moving by. The alleyway in between the warehouse is clear now. There is another guard walking toward the main entrance of the warehouse inside the compound. Brian takes him out as well.

Dwayne takes the fire escape up into the third floor as Andy Kim approaches a first floor window. Andy sees two guards in an office area. He fires through the glass, shattering it. The first guard is shot in the shoulder and reaches for his gun. Andy fires another shot through his heart and kills him instantly. The other guard brings his gun up but Andy shoots him down in a second, the man falling over a chair. Dwayne emerges on a third floor hallway and nears voices coming down the stairs. He ducks into a stuffy room and sees a guard walking up the stairs. Dwayne waits until the guard passes his room, then comes out. He fires three shots into the man's back. The man collapses on the floor.

"What the…." A voice says. Suddenly two shots ring out and Dwayne rolls into another room. He brings his gun through the open door and fires several shots to his left. He hears a body dropping to the floor. Dwayne goes out and sees a wounded guard reaching for his radio. He shoots the man through the back of the head.

Brian shoots another kidnapper through a window. "All clear from where I can see," he radios Andy and Dwayne.

CTU SERVER ROOM

Chloe inserts a flash drive into one of the mainframe computers and pulls up the data from Vanguard Security and the safe room access codes. She links the computer to her workstation and leaves.

"Chloe! Just in time, we have a lead," Bailey says. "Melanie, please continue."

Melanie is standing up at her workstation. "We just received word of a deadly carjacking in the South Hills neighborhood of Charleston less than twenty minutes after the National Guard responded at the Guthrie residence. It's likely the perpetrators were the terrorists that escaped the raid. Local police and FBI have a APB on the vehicle, a Nissan Altima with West Virginia plates G45TRE. It's also being broadcasted in local media networks and on social media. Hopefully we have something soon."

"Dammit," Chloe curses as she sees a problem with the tracking system and dashes back into the server room. She sees that Chris Tanner is already inside.

"Chloe, what are you doing here?" Tanner asks suspiciously, "I thought you were supposed to be on the floor analyzing the incoming leads."

Chloe looks at him. "I already explained myself to Aaron and I don't feel like repeating myself." She then calms down. "We're all under a lot of stress right now, I need to run these updates."

"I was about to run some updates too," Tanner said, the suspicious look still on his face. He takes a chair and sits down by another mainframe. He inserts another flash drive into the computer and watches it load. In a split screen we see that Tanner is checking the interagency communications and pulling up schematics. Chloe looks over.

"It's okay, Chloe, I know what I'm doing. If there are duplicates with what you're doing I'll let you know. Do you need help with anything?" Tanner asks. It's clear that Tanner is very careful to make sure that Chloe doesn't see his screen.

Chloe sees that she's already retrieved all the data necessary and gets up. She glances at Tanner like she really distrusts him. "We'll get through this day, Chloe," Tanner says to her.

"Thanks," she says in an annoyed tone as she walks out the door.

WAREHOUSE FACILITY /RURAL HIGHWAY

Martin Wright opens the door to the makeshift interrogation room, a cinder block room with industrial lighting overhead and no windows to the outside. He walks over to Rebekah and takes out his phone. It is a three way Facetime call with Randy Jones as well as Clay.

"Randy, it's Martin. Do you have Clay Guthrie with you by now?"

Randy smiles darkly and replies, "We do indeed. I'm surprised even he had a little bit of courage and decency left, at least when it comes to his daughter. Too bad it won't do him any good."

"Don't we still need her for leverage against Clay, make sure he continues to cooperate with you?"

Clay is looking very desperate in a split screen. "Whoever you people are, I will pay you, I'll give you any amount of money you want. I've done everything y'all have asked of me. Please, show some honor, let my daughter go. Whatever grievances you have it's between you and me. She has nothing to do with this."

"Nothing, Clay? She's your fucking daughter!" Randy says harshly, his voice rising. "You think me getting you is personal? No, Clay, you're here for a purpose. The reason we have you here goes beyond me and you. We have a message to deliver to this rotting cesspool called America, a message in blood and you will help us deliver it, you have no choice."

Randy punches Clay brutally in the chest, Clay coughing hard. Marcus is in the front seat of the SUV as it's driving down the two lane highway snaking through an Appalachian mountain range. The driver is the same terrorist that picked Clay up from the state forest. In a split screen we see Jack tracking them and the blinking green dot on West Virginia Route 612 northwest of Plum Orchard Lake.

"Your daughter, now that's personal," Randy says, "That's me and you getting even. You took my family from me, they are dead because of you! And you know what, Clay, your wife CarolAnn ought to be glad she left this world when she did, cause I would have sent her to hell a much harder way." Clay grits his teeth and head butts Randy, knocking him against the window. "What kind of a person are you?" Clay yells in a fit of desperate rage.

"You motherfucking….." Randy screams and shops Clay in the neck several times. Clay kicks Randy in the shoulder and knocks him back into the driver seat. The driver almost loses control of the vehicle, which slids across the center lane. An oncoming lumber truck blares it's horn as it swerves and brakes. A minivan swerves off the road to avoid the oncoming SUV. Marcus takes out his taser and presses it again Clay who undergoes several convulsions. The driver is about to read end a pickup truck but narrowly passes him on the left, almost colliding with more oncoming cars, people honking from all directions.

"God, please help me," Clay prays quietly as Randy now holds the gun to his neck. "Lord give me strength, and protect my family."

"God?" Randy taunts him. "Where's God, preacher? C'mon. What, he's going to make me pay for my sins? If God's there, why hasn't he stopped me yet? They're still identifying bodies in Charleston and Catlettsburg, including your lawyer Clarkson and his entire staff. This has been a great day for me so far, Clay. The best day I've had in years and it's only going to get better."

"I have no idea who you are," Clay says, "I don't know who your sons are, but as much as you hate me and whatever 'system' you think I'm a part of, my daughter is different. She's nothing like me. Especially since she went to Morgantown, she's changed. The way she sees the world is probably more similar to you than mine. She…." Clay chocked up, "She's not the kind of person you think she is, she is a better person because she rebelled against me. She's everything that I'm not."

Randy snickers, "Most folks out there are better people than you Clay. Besides this isn't about Rebekah, it's about you , and how much you care for her." Randy then speaks to Martin on the phone. "Make sure the camera is still good, then do it."

WAREHOUSE

Martin takes out a sharp dagger from his pocket and walks to Rebekah who is crying and sweating uncontrollably. "Please don't do this," she gasps, "My dad gave himself up to you."

Martin ignores her and grabs her hair. He is about to slash her throat when the door to the room explodes, blowing apart two of Martin's men. Martin turns around and before he can comprehend what truly happened, the top half of his head disintegrates in a shower of blood and brain matter, blood splattering onto Rebekah and into the wall behind. Andy Kim's face emerges through the smoke as he takes his knife and cuts open her constraints.

"Sweetheart, honey, you okay? I got you, Reb, I got you," Andy says. He hugs her tight and strokes her hair and her back as she trembles.

"Reb, I know how tough that was, but we need to get the hell out of here," Andy says as he makes sure his gun is fully loaded again.

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack is in the church offices looking for his remaining staff members. Clay breathes a sigh of relief as he sees Andy rescue Rebekah on the video. Randy and Marcus are clearly outraged and they vow to continue their mission. The SUV approaches the town of Oak Hill. Chloe is working hard in the server room as Chris Tanner returns to the main floor.

REVELATIONS CHURCH

Jack and Kate are walking down one of the long corridors of the church office annex. Jack's phone rings. "Chloe?"

"I got something here. The reprogramming signal originated from Vanguard Security, someone within your company. It says it's an employee named Mark Hayes."

"Hayes? I vetted him, I vetted everyone in here. You know better than most people how hard it is for me to trust someone, and I trusted him. I trusted every man I hired. I need you to look harder."

"I hear you Jack but at least talk to Hayes and see what he has to say for himself. Nothing is 100% foolproof and you know that."

"Trust me, I know," Jack says, "I'll get back to you." He turns to Kate. "You got that?"

She nods, showing that her gun is ready. They approach the main door to the security office.

"We need him alive," Jack says. "Dammit Hayes and the other agents in the room are all not responding, their transponders aren't showing."

They pick up their pace down the hall. Jack kicks open the door to the main security office and he and Kate both stop in their tracks.

All the Vanguard personnel inside are dead on the ground. Mark Hayes's body has a pistol in his hand, pointing to his own head.

"Son of a bitch," Jack curses.

…..4:58…..4:59…5:00 PM


	7. Episode 7: 5 PM - 6 PM

_Author's Note –_

_Thanks for the reviews! Yes I purposely cast Logan Marshall-Green as Jay Cooper in the first episode knowing he played Richard Heller. Several actors have played multiple characters on 24 most notably Tony Todd who played Benjamin Juma also played a detective in Season 3. There are some terrorists who have been killed by Jack 4 or 5 times (this is on 24 wikia!) I cast Logan Marshall-Green here because his character is a radical leftist just like Richard Heller was. Richard won't be mentioned in this story, though he did appear in one of my other stories published under "Tom Lennox"._

_Part of this episode is set on board the PRT system in Morgantown. It's hard to describe but Google "Morgantown PRT" or "WVU PRT" to get a better sense of how the system works. It's considered a very revolutionary transit concept when it first came out._

EPISODE 7

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 5 PM AND 6 PM

INDUSTRIAL WAREHOUSE

There is a quick shot of the warehouse where Rebekah Guthrie was being held captive then in split screens we see Andy hugging Rebekah and giving her a loaded pistol, Dwayne shooting down a kidnapper in a hallway, and Brian shooting down another kidnapper in a stairwell.

"They…..I don't know where they came out of, I don't think they're agents of any sort…" a voice is gasping. Andy whirls into a room that had been cleared earlier and sees a wounded kidnapper speaking into his cell phone. He rushes over as the sees the wounded man reaching for his gun, which is a considerable distance away. He kicks the gun away and grabs the kidnappers, slamming him into a wall and squeezing his neck.

"Who did you call?" Andy demands. "How many of your friends are on their way?"

The wounded kidnapper spits some blood in Andy's face. "Fuck you, man!"

Andy grabs the man and presses his gun against him. "Call them off, or I swear to God I will kill you right here and now."

"You don't even have authority here," the kidnapper says , "You're Guthrie's friend eh?. You're a fucking idiot, man, helping them. You fought for the wrong side. You think they care about you? They probably think you're just a disposable little gook, a pathetic little dog serving his master."

"Well I think you're a piece of shit," Andy says and pulls the trigger at point blank range.

"Hurry guys we need to meet up at the vehicle, one of the bastards got a call out, we might be expecting backup soon."

MORGANTOWN STREETS

A green van is driving along the streets, turning into the area around the warehouse, a mix of industrial, commercial, and residential development in the old section of downtown Morgantown. "Come in, dammit! Are you there? This is Ferguson, do you copy? Martin, are you there? What' the situation?" The terrorist named Ferguson turns to his men. "We got trouble over there, can't believe this is happening." The van speeds through a red light, several vehicles honking and cursing. The terrorists inside are shown to have a large cache of weapons. The van picks up speed as it enters a straight, flat street, weaving in and out of the busy college town traffic.

REVELATIONS CHURCH

"You and I both vetted him," Kate says to Jack, "And Chloe helped us. Nothing from CTU, NSA, or the CIA, or the FBI had any suspicions about Mark Hayes."

"It's a red herring, Kate," Jack says decisively, "He conveniently goes berserk and commits suicide after he allegedly betrays us to the terrorists? How stupid do they think I am? They might think they know me, but they don't."

"They have an attack coming up, a larger attack, I can feel it," Kate says, "Remember Guthrie's attorney? His office was at 22 Kanawha Terrace. What's in those files there? There's got to be a connection. So far we know those people are covering up their tracks real good."

"Those are industrial secrets," Jack tells her, "Stuff dealing with natural gas, coal mines, industrial equipment…" He gasps. "How did I not think of this before? We're talking about explosives and equipment. Enough to fund a stream of more terrorist attacks right here on U.S. soil."

"Why would they need Clay for that?" Kate asks. "Oh my God, if they reprogram everything, he's still on the Board of Director for Omega Resources. This is a nightmare, Jack. We need to call the White House and get access to the data that Clarkson had. That's why they also eliminated Vince Sanchez in the attack on Omega's headquarters. Clay will have full access to their corporate database, they can reprogram them to give him full access to those facilities."

CTU

"I got something!" Melanie Andrews says, "A lead on the vehicle."

Chloe takes out her private cell phone and texts Jack, then dials his number so that he can listen in on the intel being presented.

Bailey motions for silence and Melanie continues as she pulls up something on the large screen that covers the entire wall of CTU Southeast Division's main floor. It shows the Nissan Altima in a parking lot next to a fast food drive-thru. "This is security camera footage from the Chick-Fil-A at Southridge Center, several customers called it in to local police after the local news station put out Facebook and Twitter alerts."

"Good that we're finally catching a break," Tanner says.

Melanie continues as the camera zooms in on Randy and Marcus getting out of the car and getting into another vehicle. "We've put in an APB for the new vehicle but it's likely they switched cars multiple times."

"Good," Bailey says, "Run those images through facial recognition software. Start with the main terrorist watch lists, then the WET list, all the way down to state arrest records for the past fifteen years. How long will that take?"

"I don't know," Melanie says, "About an hour or so."

"An hour? We can't afford to let those bastards get away. They've launched four attacks already today and killed Cole Ortiz and I doubt kidnapping Clay Guthrie is their endgame."

"I might be able to do it faster," Chloe offers, "I can work with her. We can get more processing power from the satellite program now that the drones are back in position."

"Good, just get me results. American lives are on the line."

"What about the media?" Tanner asks, "They got us the lead from Chick fIl-A.

"I don't want to spook them right now," Bailey tells his, "If they really have something else planned they're going to up their timetable. We need to take them by surprise."

"Sir, if I may," Tanner says, "That may be a risk worth taking. Like President Heller said, our biggest asset in fighting terrorism is a vigilant American public. We need every lead we can possibly get right now."

Bailey thinks for a while and nods. "Go ahead, send these images to the media. "

DOWNTOWN MORGANTOWN

Ferguson, the leader of the kidnappers' backup team, sees Rebekah and her rescuers leaving the main gate as they drive through the private gate into the industrial property. "Shit!" he curses as he sees the dead bodies of several of his fellow kidnappers.

He slams on the gas pedal and the vehicle shoots forward, his fellow terrorists pointing their guns out and opening up with automatic gunfire. A massive stream of bullets pocket the walls as the rescuers all take cover. Andy takes an MP5 submachine gun he got from a dead hostile and fires back, shattering the windshield. Ferguson swerves and moves his car to the left, driving onto an abandoned sidewalk in the industrial area. Brian opens fire with a Uzi, killing one of the terrorists but he is struck by a blast of automatic gunfire, being pinned to the brick warehouse wall before collapsing to the ground, blood flying in all directions.

"Brian! Get up!" Andy shouts as Dwayne provides cover fire. Ferguson and two of the terrorists get out of the car and Andy tosses a grenade in their direction. Rebekah also takes out a pistol and fires in their direction, killing one of them.

"Take cover!" Ferguson shouts as they duck into different alleyways, doors, or flatten themselves. The force of the explosion shatters windows up and down the block, also attracting attention from passerby outside the industrial property. Ferguson emerges from behind a dumpster and opens fire on the Mustang's gas tank. The car explodes, the explosion carrying it several feet into the air before the flaming wreckage comes back to the street. "Get them!" Ferguson shouts.

Ferguson and the surviving kidnappers dash past the burning hulk of the Mustang and see that their prey have gone through a door in the fence, emerging on the busy streets outside. "Scan the area, find them!"

MORGANTOWN PRT

"What about your friend? We need to…." Rebekah says her voice quivering.

"Brian's dead. We'll have time to mourn him later but right now we need to make sure we get out of here safety or he'll have died in vain. Trust me, he believed in what we're going, and he's in a better place now."

Rebekah and her friends dash across a busy street and reach the Walnut Street PRT station. We see the unique automated single rail cars of the West Virginia University personal rapid transit system moving along a bridge toward the elevated station which sits above a busy downtown street corner. The system connects two WVU campus areas along with downtown Morgantown. "Reb, we need to lose them and get to the helipad, there's a chopper waiting to take us to Charleston. You have the data card?"

Rebekah nods as they walk up the escalator into the Sunnyside station and take something out of her pocket that she had taken from the warehouse. "This is what we came for, didn't know it was going to be this much trouble."

They walk quickly past a throng of college students and up an escalator toward the elevated catwalk leading into the Walnut Street station. "Tell me about it, Reb," Andy comments, "Those guys had an entire army. We need to get to your father, I have a feeling these guys are connected to what's happening down in Charleston."

"Dammit, our friends are here," Dwayne said.

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack driving rapidly down the highway. Heller and Rob in the White House. Chloe working hard at CTU. Ferguson and two other heavily armed terrorists are getting out of the van. Ferguson takes out a Bazooka and aims it at Guthrie in the station.

MORGANTOWN PRT

"Everyone take cover!" Andy shouts, waving his Morgantown PD badge and firing shots in the air. Ferguson fires the rocket which speeds up toward the catwalk leaving a white smoke trail. The people in the area and on the station platform scatter for the stairwells and escalators on the other side of the station. The rocket impacts right behind Rebekah and Andy, collapsing the catwalk but they reach safety in time. Ferguson dashes across the street and shouts to his men ."The two of you hold on just in case they get on the PRT, cut them off at the next station."

Ferguson and one of his men rush up the stairwell, pushing past the panicking, fleeing crowd of passengers, going up toward the platform where one of the small PRT cars is approaching Rebekah and her friends.

CTU

Chris Tanner's phone rings and he looks away from the computer screen. He sees it is from a blocked number.

"Andy! How did it go?" Tanner says, looking around to make sure the other analysts at CTU are all busy at work, including Chloe and Melanie. "This should have been done hours ago. Randy already has Clay Guthrie and they're taking him to an unknown location."

"They had an entire army guarding Rebekah I needed to call for backup and the schematics you send me work but we are being pursued on the Morgantown PRT, we're getting on several cars in the Walnut Street station heading toward the main campus. I'm…. we're on car number 12…..we need you to clear the way for us."

"That's gonna take some time, Andy," Tanner says.

"We don't have time!" Andy yells, "Just get on it!"

Tanner takes out another laptop and pulls up a map of the Morgantown PRT system.

MORGANTOWN PRT SYSTEM

Ferguson charges up the last section of the escalator and goes into the turnstile. He hops over along with his partner.

"Hey you!" the station manager shouts, running over.

Ferguson turns his assault rifle on the man and shoots him down in a hail of bullets, causing even more chaos on the platform.

"Get down!" Andy shouts as he and Dwayne get Rebekah down to the floor.

Ferguson and his partner empty their clips toward the PRT car as it departs Walnut Street station, heading north. "Next station, Beechurst," an automated female voice announces. Andy and Dwayne fire back with their Uzis. Ferguson's partner is hit in the should and leg, falling down into the tracks.

"AHHHHH!" he screams, trying to get up but unable to with his injured leg as another PRT car bears down on him. It slows down but in a split screen we see Tanner manipulating it after hacking into the system. The PRT car now picks up speed and several seconds later crushes the terrorist, smearing blood onto the tracks.

Ferguson hops on the second car which carried a group of students who scramble out of the car upon seeing the accident and Ferguson holding his assault rifle. Ferguson pushes the button for Medical Center, the last station on the single-line transit system. In the streets below, his accomplices' vehicle speed through an intersection, causing a multi-vehicle accident but continues on. There is backed up traffic ahead and the terrorists drive onto the sidewalk, sending pedestrians jumping out of the way and scattering as the car tears through an outdoor café and a hot dog stand.

The van speeds on a wide road following the Monongalia River with the elevated PRT tracks right above them. "Beechurst is cutting it too close," the driver informs Ferguson. "We're going to go for the main campus and cut them off at the Engineering Station."

Ferguson curses as he bangs on the walls of the PRT car wanting it go to faster.

CTU

Chris Tanner shakes his head as he tries to stop Ferguson's car. There is another firewall and the PRT system had detected the hack and is shutting itself down. Ferguson and Andy's cars are on a downhill stretch.

"Turn around!" Ferguson shouts to his comrade on the phone, "They're shutting the system down, head back to Beechurst!"

Andy makes a call to his friends at Morgantown PD.

MORGANTOWN STREETS

Sirens and flashing police lights emerge behind the van and more police are arriving in front, trying to cut them off.

"Go for it!" the passenger in the van tells his friend.

"Are you sure?"

The passenger turns the gun on his friend. "Our beliefs are worth dying for, we all know that," the passenger replies. "This country wouldn't be such a fucked up place if more people who thought like us acted more before."

The passenger then opens fire on the police units arriving on the scene as the driver floors the accelerator. A barrage of bullets are fired by the Morgantown police units blocking them off. Several bullets hit the tires of the van and it spins out of the control. A bullet hits the driver in the head his brains splattering onto the windshield. The van veers off the road at more than 50 miles an hour and flips over several times, landing with a splash in the river below.

PRT TRACKS, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Andy and Rebekah's PRT car overshoots the Beechurst station and enters the WVU main campus. They are now in a flat stretch and the acceleration has ended while Ferguson's car is going faster.

"We need to take care of him before he pulls alongside us," Dwayne says.

Andy nods. He gets up and shoots out the windows of his PRT car then opens fire on Ferguson's car.

Ferguson ducks and loads another round into his gun. He sprays dozens of bullets toward Andy as his rail car picks up speed, his own windows shattering.

Dwayne takes out a hand grenade and pulls the pin, throwing it hard toward Ferguson's PRT car. The grenade lands right inside the car and explodes, completely obliterating the entire car in addition to Ferguson.

STADIUM PARKING LOT, COLUMBUS, OHIO

"I got you now, Sarah! We'll show you Mountaineer style!" Stacy taunts her friends playfully across the beer pong table. They are in a large stadium parking lot tailgating along before the Lynyrd Skynrd concert is about to begin. Rock and rap music play in the background from various vehicles parked in the lot. Stacy aims and throws the ping pong ball across the table. It hits the rim of the last red solo cup and bounces off. "Dammit!"

"Ohio State!" her friend Sarah calls back, "Fuck the Mounts!". Stacy and her partner step away from the table and she takes out her Samsung Galaxy phone. "Forgot to tag us here," she says to one of her friends as she touches the Facebook app icon on her phone. "Holy shit!"

At the top of her news feed is a large alert from WCHS-TV in Charleston showing Randy Jones's picture from the Chick fil-A parking lot with a phone number to call. The news station's status says that the unidentified man is a primary suspect in the three terrorist attacks in West Virginia and Kentucky earlier in the day, along with a large monetary reward for information leading to his capture. Stacy motions for her friends to hold on as she quickly dials the number.

CTU

"This is strange," Tanner says, "I'm processing all the calls to the hotline and we have a likely ID, problem is most of them come from at least two years ago." In a split screen we see Chloe with other cell phone on so Jack can listen in on their updates.

"Okay just pull it up, let's see what you got," Bailey replies.

Tanner pulls up Randy's driver's license photo. "This is our primary target, Randy Jones. Last known address was in Beckley, West Virginia. Former Delta Force squad leader, served with distinction, earned a Purple Heart in an operation at the Starkwood facility in Sangala. Also conducted covert operations in Iraq and Ukraine."

Bailey nods as the rest of the staff listen intently. "Says he had an honorable discharge, no arrest records in the military or civilian life. So what went wrong?"

Tanner replies, "After leaving the military, Jones returned home to West Virginia, get this, working underground for Omega Appalachian Resources, along with his sons Tyler and Brady, both of whom died in the Cool Ridge Mine disaster in 2013 along with thirty two of their fellow miners. He pulls up a front page USA Today story from years back "West Virginia Mine Disaster Nation's Worst in Thirty Years – Methane Gas Buildup Blamed for Explosion that Collapsed Cool Ridge Mine."

"In the OSHA investigation that followed," Melanie informs them, "It was revealed that the Cool Ridge Mine, like many owned by Omega and its subsidiaries, had dozens upon dozens of repeated safety violations, including those pertaining to methane gas monitoring devices in the mine shaft. Clay Guthrie was the CEO of Omega Resources during this time. Both state and federal officials were accused of turning a blind eye after receiving millions in corporate donations from Omega and other major players in the coal industry. Subsequent lawsuits against Omega have gone nowhere. Guthrie apparently decided paying the OSHA fines made more financial sense than fixing the safety violations and taking the precautions that could have prevented the disaster. "

"So you think it's bigger, that this is more than just him blaming Guthrie for his sons' death."

"It gets worse," Tanner says, "After the Cool Ridge disaster, Jones became heavily involved in the National Mine Workers union. His local chapter was disbanded by the national office after it became known for violent protests, and the intimidation harassment of non-union workers including vandalism and physical assaults on them and their family members. They would bring in Occupy types and leftist radicals from other states to engage in violence." New images on the massive CTU screen show union members and protestors holding anti-capitalist signs attacking police, smashing windows and burning cars. "Jones's wife died in 2015 during a violent protest outside the federal building in Beckley after having an allergic reaction to the tear gas used by police."

"So this is when he snapped," Bailey says, "Not just against Guthrie, but against his country. Here we have a highly trained ex-military operative who felt betrayed and victimized by the American system, with nothing left to live for. If only we know what he's got up his sleeve."

WHITE HOUSE OVAL OFFICE

Audrey walks past the Secret Service agents guarding the door and goes into the Oval Office, where President Heller is looking very exhausted. "Another one of those days, Audrey? I know it. Sometimes I wish I had just resigned. I'm starting to wonder if the new medication regimen is really a blessing."

"Dad," Audrey says with a sad look, "I know this news will be hard for you to bear but please bear with me."

"What is it?" Heller asks simply.

"I just got an urgent call from Congressman John Rezierski of West Virginia, he's down in Myrtle Beach at the DNC."

"Rezierski? He's a reasonable man for a Democrat, but that's highly unusual. No Democrat's done that since David Palmer was in office. It must have been urgent indeed for him to speak to us privately. What did he tell you?"

"Natalie Manchetti and Joseph O'Malley are going to launch an emergency impeachment against you, me, and Mike Novick. They're using this situation to their advantage and your order to use the National Guard on American soil as a pretext, our connections with Jack Bauer and Clay Guthrie are being used against us. This will be O'Malley's way of usurping your office from under your feet."

"Good God!" Heller explodes in anger, getting up from his chair, "Do those people have no shame? No sense of decency left in them? Taking advantage of the most serious terrorist crisis on our hands since Al-Harazi's drone attacks! What kind of a timespan are we talking?"

"Hours, not days, dad," Audrey says grimly, "The Attorney General is on our side of course, but the Democrats will find ways to threaten him and try to make sure he's on board too. Even if he stays loyal, there's no guarantee with the Democrats' adherence to the Hastert Rule and their new theme of party unity. People like Rezierski will be compelled to tote the party line. Earlier today, Manchetti threatened to cease all federal funding for the Coalfields Expressway, making economic growth in his district all but impossible. No doubt other conservative Democrats are coming under fire in a similar manner."

"What's the situation with Jack and Clay?"

"We still don't know who the mole in CTU is," Audrey tells her father, "Jack's relying only on himself and Clay said there's people he trusts that will get in contact with Jack."

"I don't like the sound of this," Heller says, shaking his head. "Everyone's got their own objective, going around others. I still remember the days when people trusted the government."

"When the government deserved to be trusted," Audrey said. "These days it seems us and Jack are the exceptions."

"We're going to stay the course, Audrey," Heller says, "We're going to wait for Jack to get back to us, get the help he needs without going through CTU, except Chloe O'Brian maybe, and see where things go from here. I am NOT going down without a fight."

"I never expected you to, dad," Audrey answers.

SPLIT SCREENS

Randy and Marcus's stolen vehicle pulls into the gravel drive leading to the farm where they have set up their operations and they drag a sedated Clay Guthrie out of the vehicle toward the barn. The Ukraine Russian mercenaries are working feverishly on their computers programming something using the data stolen earlier in the day. Andy is at the throttles of a helicopter as it lifts off from a private airfield in Morgantown. Jack is watching the tracer as he drives southbound on the toll portion of Interstate 77, the mileage signs for Beckley and Bluefield appearing next to him.

CTU

"Hey, we got something here!" Melanie Andrews calls out. "A witness who says she knows the suspect Just came from the switchboard, says she's a waitress at a diner outside Charleston, the suspect would go regularly."

"Put her through!" Bailey orders and motions for quiet. "Miss….Powers is it?"

"Yes, sir, my name's Stacy Powers, I was told to hold on for the call to be transferred."

"Ms. Powers, this is Aaron Bailey, director of CTU Southeast Division, you are on speaker with my staff, we're investigating the bombings up in your area today. Is everyone you know ok?"

"Yes, thank God! We're just getting word of it, can't believe all that is happening. Are y'all sure Randy Jones is responsible for what happened today?"

"Yes, he's our primary suspect as of now," Bailey replies.

Stacy tells them. "He started coming to our diner once every couple weeks starting a year and half ago or so. At least that's what I think."

Bailey nods to his staff. "This is the first witness from a recent sighting. " He then speaks into the phone, "Did he talk to you much, anything else you remember about him? Has he acted strange in any way?"

"Not really," Stacy says in her pronounced West Virginia twang, walking toward a quieter area in the parking lot, "He was just an ordinary guy, always been pretty nice, he'd ask me about school and everything. He was nice and funny, always tipped pretty good too. He….he said he moved to Sissonville from Raleigh County, tryin' to get away from things."

"To the best of your knowledge, did Randy have lots of friends in town? Was he involved in the community, anything?"

"I didn't think so," Stacy said, "He comes in by himself a lot, sometimes with a friend or two, but I never see him anywhere else, and Sissonville ain't particularly a big place. You run into friends all the time, especially things like the festivals and football games but we never seen him. The last time I saw him was this morning."

"Stacy, is there anything you remember about him today, anything special? You're going great, don't worry." Stacy pauses for a little, thinking hard. A strong desire to bring to justice those who attacked her hometown is in the front of her mind, with the reward money somewhere in the back. She thinks back to as much detail as she can from the morning, wishing she had drank less beers.

"Yeah, actually. Once he mentioned he lived down Kelly's Creek Holler but none of my friends in Kelly's Creek knew him, they said it's probably in one of them overgrown and run down properties toward the end of the holler. People tend to avoid that area, they say there's meth labs and what have you."

"Good," Bailey says, then nods to Melanie.

"I'm getting in contact with state police and FBI right now, they'll be cordoning off Kelly's Creek," she tells him.

"There _was _something a little off about him at lunch today. He order was just different than anything he typically gets. He said it was in memory of his dead sons. He mentioned his wife had passed away too, maybe being in Raleigh County brings back too many memories. He….shit I really should have mentioned this first this is just so crazy!"

"It's okay, Stacy," Chloe says in an unusually patient tone, "We are really glad you called. What else is there?"

"I'm actually in Columbus now for the concert cause he suggested it. I totally forgot it was today and tomorrow. I've always wanted to see Lynyrd Skynyrd live so I hit up some of my girls and my friend here in Ohio and came up. Maybe…..oh my God do you think he wanted to get me out of town? Is he planning….."

"No, Stacy, no," Chloe says hurriedly, "We don't believe so. That was probably just regular conversation, the concert was probably announced on the radio."

"You sure I ain't got nothing to worry about, don't have to call my family?"

"No, I'm sure," Chloe says, a scowl returning to her face but she maintains a polite voice. "Sorry, everyone likes Lynyrd Skynyrd, that was probably just easy small talk. Don't worry about, just enjoy the concert if you can. We will make sure Randy Jones pays for what he did. I understand how shaken up you must be by all this and I'm sorry."

"That should be everything," Bailey says into the phone, "You will be contacted within 24 hours regarding your monetary reward. Thank you very much for your help."

"Not everyone like Lynyrd Skynyrd," Melanie says, "I guess this Southern thing's really getting to you."

"I don't like Lynyrd Skynyrd either but I was just trying to get her to not panic because obviously we have a major problem here."

"I agree, good fast thinking, Chloe," Bailey says. He pulls up a map of the Charleston-Huntington area and focuses his laser pointer on Sissonville, a semi-rural area north of the Charleston city limits. "I believe that a potentially devastating terrorist attack is imminent. We know that Stacy is one of the few people Jones was able to connect with after moving to Sissonville from Beckley. It's conceivable he had a soft spot for her, wanted to get her all the way to Columbus to keep her safe."

"Jack Bauer would kidnap her and take her back to Charleston," Melanie says sarcastically, "Threaten to put her in harm's way. That IS the Jack Bauer style isn't it? "

"This is the new CTU we DO NOT do that kind of stuff anymore! And if that's your attempt at humor this is not the right time and your personality issues are getting worse while I'm actually starting to get used to Chloe. "

Bailey pauses and continues, looking at the map. "Sissonville is 15 miles away from downtown Charleston, so whatever Jones has planned, the devastation should be expected to have a radius at least that far. More than 500,000 people live in the Metro Valley and a large chunk of them may be at risk. Tanner, get me an update on potential targets in the area that will cause loss of life on a catastrophic scale. Nuclear facilities, industrial targets, let's get on it!"

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack stops his car at an isolated scenic viewpoint by the two-lane highway which only has a few portapotties and a tiny parking lot. Kate is still with him. He is very close to where Clay is being held. Rebekah, Andy, and Dwayne are in a chopper flying rapidly over the thickly forested Appalachian terrain, the mountain ridges here decidedly higher than the lower hills around Charleston.

Jack picks up this phone. "This is Bauer."

"Hello Mr. Bauer. It's an honor to finally speak with you in person. I've always been a great fan of your work," Andy says.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get this number?" Jack demands. Kate also has a suspicious look on her face.

"Through some mutual friends of course. My name is Andy Kim, Rebekah's fiancée. I'm calling to inform you, per Pastor Guthrie's instructions, that we have Rebekah with us. She's safe and protected. We need to work together if we are to rescue the pastor and put an end to this madness."

"Why the hell should we trust you?" Jack demands harshly.

"Cause you don't have a choice, Mr. Bauer. You certainly can't trust CTU, can you?"

….5:58…..5:59…..6:00 PM


	8. Episode 8 : 6 PM - 7 PM

_Author Note: Hope y'all are continuing to enjoy the story. I'm thinking there will PROBABLY be a time jump (but it won't be a massive one and the season will have closer to 24 episodes than to 12.) For those of you familiar with West Virginia, I've probably taken some liberties with travel times but the actual writers did the same with California. Also I've taken many liberties with how mining and natural gas production technology works for the time purposes of this story as I don't have a background in those industries despite living in a state where they dominate the economy. I didn't like Claire Danes's character in Homeland but I can still picture her playing an analyst. Also this story was initially supposed to be titled "Homeland" or "Homefront" but obviously both of those have been taken by shows or movies. Also after having started watching Sons of Anarchy I think Katey Sagal could also be casted as Natalie Manchetti in this story. _

CAST

Mia Kirshner – Mandy

Claire Danes – Melanie Andrews, CTU analyst/staffer

EPISODE 8

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 6 PM AND 7 PM

Andy Kim's private helicopter flies through the clear blue sky above the Appalachian Mountains. They pass over the blue-green surface of Summersville Lake as well as the lighthouse and sandy beach located there.

SPLIT SCREENS

The staff in CTU is busy at work. Jack and Kate are standing by their car at the scenic overlook, Jack watching his PDA. Rebekah is looking nervously over the window and checking a small computer hard drive she had retrieved from the warehouse she was being held at. Natalie Manchetti, Joseph O'Malley and several other Democrats are meeting behind closed doors at the Democrat National Convention.

CTU

"What resources do we have left in the Kanawha Valley?" Bailey asks.

"I've re-directed a CTU Tac team out of Pittsburgh," Melanie replies, "They'll be in Sissonville in the next twenty five minutes."

"Good, make sure local police have Kelly's Creek Holler completely sealed off past the Martins Branch bridge. Nobody goes in or out without a thorough vehicle search and questioning. We're dealing with a terrorist attack of catastrophic proportions. Whatever blowback there is from this I will handle it."

"Understood," Melanie replies. The satellite image shows Kelly's Creek Holler as very sparsely populated with scattered houses very far from one another. Most of it looks impoverished and run down with dilapidated houses and mostly single-wide trailers. There is a lot of overgrowth.

CTU/SCENIC OVERLOOK

"Chloe, this MUST be secret," Jack stresses. "I'm going to send you a voice, run it through your recognition software. He says his name is Andy Kim, and that he's working with Clay Guthrie without my knowledge or the government's."

"Okay, send it over," Chloe replies, looking very stressed out now.

Chloe opens up a computer program on her screen and transfers Andy's recorded voice into it. "Focus on current or former government agents, links to CTU or other agencies," Jack tells her.

"Got it," Chloe replies, "Hey Jack?"

"Yeah, Chloe."

"I…." she pauses and tears start welling up in her eyes. "I just can't believe how unfair this is, all of it!"

"It's the world we live in, Chloe, you know that as much as me," he replies.

"No it's…you heard the phone call from earlier, that girl calling in information about Jones and indirectly warned us of the scope of the upcoming attack. They had a reward of up to $500,000. I'm glad she called with that intel, or we would never have known of Jones's larger plans, but all she did was sacrifice 15 minutes of a frickin tailgate party and now she's got the rest of her college education paid for in addition to her house. Look at me and you. Look at everything we've sacrificed, the time you spent in China, the years you spent on the run from the Russians. And God knows what will happen to you today!"

Chloe pauses. "Why do you do it Jack? Why do I do it? I don't think I get it anymore."

"Maybe it IS a curse, but it's who we are, Chloe," Jack tells her. "It's hard for me to accept it. I don't think I fully do, but we have the skills to do what it takes." He pauses. "I hate getting dragged into this time and time again, and I wish the world wasn't like this, but people like Stacy there are why I keep on going. An innocent young woman, with a family, good friends, just enjoying her life, with hope for the future. People just like her all over the country. We do this because we're able to help people. You should be proud of that."

"I always wonder if it's worth it. All these years, what difference did it make?" Chloe says, distraught.

"We made a difference in all the lives we've saved, all the lives YOU'VE saved, in every terrorist attack that was prevented or stopped. President Heller is alive because of you. Yuri Suvarov is alive because of you, even if he doesn't particularly deserve to be."

Chloe chuckles a little through her tears. "I guess you're right."

"Listen, Chloe," Jack says as he stands looking into the deep mountain valley next to the parking area, "We'll get through today, I promise." Half the sky is still a deep blue, but a line of dark storm clouds is visible on the horizon, moving in from the north and west.

DEMOCRAT NATIONAL CONVENTION, MYRTLE BEACH

Natalie Manchetti and Joseph O'Malley are sitting at a private table in an enclosed patio at an oceanfront restaurant. The clamor of the Myrtle Beach boardwalk is heard gently through the glass but they are in a very private area. O'Malley holds his wine glass up silently and a waiter comes over, filling it with an exquisite French wine. It seems the waiter knows better than to interrupt their conversation and O'Malley does not acknowledge him as he continues speaking across the table.

"You are sure the pressure you're exerting on John Rezierski and our other blue dog colleagues is working?" O'Malley asks then adds, "I wish some of them would just step over the aisle instead of reaching across it so much."

Natalie laughs derisively. "Yes, I reminded them of our election theme of party unity, that whatever differences we have, we resolve them here and form a united front against our enemies. I impressed upon them that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, that we can't risk all the progressive social and economic change that the Democrat Party is finally starting to bring to America."

"I'm sure some of them also needed some reminders about which infrastructure projects the party leadership has steered to their home districts as a reward for their loyalty. Even those toothless inbred hillbillies need good highways to take them from their single wides to their moonshine stills," O'Malley says disparagingly.

"The only wild card is the Black Caucus. I've spoken with the staffs of Elijah Cummings and Husayn Osana but I'm still waiting for them to get back to us. Both of the Black Democrats don't hate Heller as much as they hate the average Republican because of Heller's friendship with David Palmer."

"Maybe this was a mistake," O'Malley says. "Remember we pushed for this convention to be in South Carolina precisely because we expected a boycott from the Black Caucus. While our African American breathren certainly align with us on economic injustice, many of them unfortunately go to church a little too much and don't share our views on reproductive freedom, the main theme for tonight."

"You said the Hastert Rule will still be honored."

"But you and I both know we can't just go and threaten to cut HUD funding in Husayn Osana's Detroit district the way we can threaten our friends from West Virginia and New Mexico. And we're talking not just about tonight's proposed legislation, but actually ending James Heller's presidency, after his staged heroics in Wembley Stadium have salvaged some sympathy for the Republican Party."

"Trust me, Joseph, one way or another, we'll get what we want, and James Heller's career will be over. Push for impeachment, and keep pressure on the uncooperative members of our party. The less you now the better, but I have a plan in motion that guarantees our victory."

KELLY'S CREEK HOLLER, SISSONVILLE

The sky over Sissonville is now cloudy with rumbles of thunder in the distance. Kanawha County's Sheriff's Department and West Virginia State Police vehicles are gathered at the small bridge crossing over Martins Branch.

"No, sir, I ain't seen nothing," a young man in a Sissonville Indians high school jersey and a Dixie baseball cap says from the driver's seat of his F450 pickup truck. There is a Heller-Novick bumper sticker visible on the truck next to an American flag decal. "Yeah I know just about everybody that lives by the front of the holler but deep in there heck no. We tend to avoid that place."

The officer at the roadblock, a state trooper named Mitchell, nods. "Thank you son, be careful."

"Yes, sir," the young man says respectfully before turning the volume back up on the Christian radio station and driving off. Several men in battle gear are coming. They are wearing CTU patches on their uniforms.

"Glad y'all made it okay, we were kinda concerned about the storms," Mitchell, "Everything's cordoned off as y'all requested. Been askin' folks but all we know is the suspected property's at the end of the holler."

The CTU team leader nods. "Wouldn't surprise me if he kept a low profile. The less friends, the less people to suspect what you're up to. We're ready to go in now."

The police clear the way as the CTU agents board some state police vans, heading cross the bridge toward the end of the holler.

CTU/RALEIGH COUNTY

A split screen shows Jack leaving the porta potty at the roadside parking lot, Andy's helicopter flying through the sky, Chloe at CTU, and Tanner also at his CTU workstation. Then we see Melanie Andrews at her desk also. Her phone buzzes and she takes a lot. On it we see the 5th missed call from an unknown number. She clenches her teeth and silences it.

Jack's phone rings. "This is Chloe, we got a match on Andy Kim."

"Ok, go on I'm listening," Jack says as he gets back in his car.

"Andrew Kim, associate professor in the criminal justice department at WVU, also a special instructor for the Morgantown Police Department, also headed the SWAT team at Morgantown PD. Look at this, Jack, before moving to Morgantown Andrew Kim worked for the FBI at the Washington, D.C. field office. Perfect evaluations from his superiors, including two from Special Agent Renee Walker."

"Thank, Chloe, that was fast, even for you."

"I did the liberty of also going into the Morgantown PRT station's cameras and identified Andy's friend there who also helped rescue Rebekah. His name is Dwayne Parsons, former West Virginia state trooper with military experience in Afghanistan with the Army. No criminal records. Jack, we don't know what their motives in this area, but at least for now, these guys are the best chance you've got."

"I guess so," Jack says. "And we have no idea who Jones's mole is? If it's even in CTU?"

"No but involving CTU will definitely get it up the chain of command. Congresswoman Natalie demanded more intelligence sharing and they're getting updates on everything so they can use it against President Heller for political purposes but if the mole's somewhere up the chain, they'll also be privy to that info."

"I know Chloe, we can't risk it and the President understands. Whoever is helping Randy Jones wants him to succeed in wiping out all of Charleston."

WHITE HOUSE

President Heller paces around the Situation Room as Audrey, Rob, and Mike Novick are at the table. "Sir, with all due respect," Mike says, "I think CTU needs to know about. We're talking an attack that can wipe out an entire American city and kill tens of thousands of people if not more. And imagine the psychological fallout for the country if this madman Jones succeeds in his attack. This will be the first major attack on American soil in a decade. And we're not talking New York or Los Angeles. Striking a city like Charleston, West Virginia will truly spread panic all across this country. It will truly convince the people there's no safe place left in America, and that our entire war on terror was a failure. It won't matter that the threat didn't originate internationally."

"You know there's a leak somewhere!" Heller points out.

"If anything we need to know where they are on things," Mike replies. "Plus we still have Jack Bauer in play. Nobody outside of the senior leadership needs to know that."

MOUNTAIN FARM

Randy nods at the two men holding Clay Guthrie down. "Increase the dose of sodium pentothal. Soon he won't be able to resist anymore."

He then walks outside the barn where Mikhail, Vadim, and the other Ukraine Russian mercenaries are gathered.

"We must break him. Are you sure you and the drugs are working? If not, I can do it the Donetsk way. Our ways have always worked against the ethnic Ukrainian _sookas_ we captured, including their Western trained special forces." Vadim says menacingly with a murderous glare in his eyes.

"I assure you it will work. And I want to leave Clay Guthrie just for myself. I need that satisfaction," Randy replies. "You'll have full access to the Mt. Hope facility within the hour. We're on a timetable. My union friends are standing by at the target and they're awaiting delivery of the material."

"And our payment?" Mikhail reminds him.

"As discussed you will receive a quarter of it once Guthrie's accessed the corporate databases and Omega's offshore bank accounts. Another quarter upon retrieving the materials from Mount Hope. And the rest upon the destruction of Charleston, after which my friends in the government will arrange for you to leave the country."

"Da, tovarich," Mikhail replies then tells his men to get ready and leave in Russian.

The mercenaries drive off and Randy walks back toward the barn. Despite it being a long summer day, the skies are darkening because of the approaching storm clouds, and deep shadows from the forested hillsides are cast over the farm.

Randy goes back into the barn with the electronic equipment, where his men have just given Clay another injection.

KELLY'S CREEK HOLLER

The CTU Tac team stop at where the road dead ends. They see a property with a ranch-style house and an outdoor shooting range. This area is very secluded and far away from the neighbors. The Tac team leader calls into the bullhorn. "This is the Counter Terrorist Unit. Is anyone is there, surrender yourself and come out with your hands in the air!" There is no response.

"Move in," the leader says. In split screens, the staff at CTU are looking at the footage from there. The rain is beginning to fall as the agents pull up to an abandoned property located where the road dead-ends amid a thicket of trees and overgrown bushes.

CTU / WHITE HOUSE

Tanner moves the drone overhead through the dark clouds. "We got these supercell thunderstorms moving in from the west," he says. "I don't know how long the drones can stay in the air safely."

"The teams should be in position anytime now," Bailey replies.

"Sir, you have the President on a secure line from the White House," Melanie says.

"Patch it through to here," he says, stopping at a workstation.

"This is President Heller. You're on with Rob Weiss , Audrey, and Vice President Novick. You are also on with Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti, the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who is on videoconference from the DNC in Myrtle Beach."

"Mr. President, Congresswoman Manchetti," Bailey says, "This is Aaron Bailey, head of CTU Southeast Division."

In a split screen we see Heller in the Oval Office behind the large presidential desk, rays of afternoon sunlight coming into the office. We see the picture with him, Audrey, and his wife on the desk as well as a British tea set from Prime Minister Davies.

"It's my understanding you're currently checking up on a left-wing terrorist, Randy Jones. What do we know so far?"

"Yes sir, we believe he is the man responsible for everything that's happened so far today. We're still investigating the Charleston bombing, but Jay Cooper, the leader of the terrorist squad in Catlettsburg this morning, was seen meeting with Jones at a truck stop a year ago. We obtained this information by backtracking a vehicle registered to Cooper that was photographed at an EZ Pass lane on the West Virginia Turnpike. As we speak, Mr. President, a CTU team is moving in on a possible location for Jones just outside Charleston."

"And you are certain Jones is there?" Heller says with a concerned look on his face.

"We cannot be 100% sure but it's the best lead we got at this point. We know Jones relocated to northern Kanawha County and believe his base of operations is now there."

"Christ," Heller says to himself though that's also heard over the phone. "My staff is telling me we're looking at a mass casualty attack? What can you tell me? Any potential targets?"

Bailey takes a deep breath, maintaining his composure. "My people are still working on that but industrial facilities there in the Chemical Valley are likely targets."

"Chemical Valley?" Audrey asks with a puzzled look.

"Yes, that's an informal nickname for the Kanawha Valley between Belle and Nitro including Charleston itself," Bailey informs them, "So given due to the concentration of chemical manufacturing in the area. The largest ones are the DuPont plant in Belle, the Bayer facility in Dunbar, and Liberty Enterprises in South Charleston. We have intel that makes us believe there will be massive loss of life within at least a 10 mile radius of the target which is why our best assessment at this point says one of these facilities will be targeted."

"Dad, this is….you need to look at this," Audrey says as she puts something in her computer. "The Liberty Enterprises facility was previously owned by Union Carbide. Several years ago, an accident at a similar factory in India released a toxic cloud that killed over 6000 people, and in that case only part of the factory's inventory was released. If Randy Jones and his men are in possession of high powered explosives they can destroy the entire facility, which is four times the size of that plant in India. We're looking at a nightmare scenario right now."

"I understand the ramifications of what we're facing, Ms. Heller," Bailey says respectfully, "I've ordered my analysts to look through the schematics of all of those facilities including all possible access points, and underground infrastructure like pipelines and sewers."

"This is Congresswoman Manchetti," Natalie says into the call, "How much explosives are we talking about? What would it take to trigger a release of these toxic chemicals into the air over Charleston?"

"Not a huge amount if they hit the right spots. However they would need inside knowledge of these facilities and their weak points," Bailey replies.

Heller says into the phone on his desk, "I am ordering an immediate shutdown of Liberty Enterprises, Bayer CropScience and the DuPont facilities. With respect to the Congresswoman here, I believe this constitutes a national security crisis and I want the National Guard involved. All industrial operations are to cease immediately, these facilities will be under military lockdown and I want bomb squad equipment and personnel on site until the threat is neutralized. In addition, I am ordering an immediate closure of Yeager Airport and declaring a no-fly zone over the Charleston area."

"Understood, Mr. President," Bailey says, "We will begin coordinating with Major Pennington at National Guard Base Yeager immediately."

"I want roadblocks set up on Interstate 77, US Highway 60, and State Route 61, plus helicopter patrols at any back roads they might take into the city. And keep me posted on any additional developments," Heller orders. "Good luck." The call ends.

WHITE HOUSE/ MYRTLE BEACH CONVENTION CENTER

"Well at least it appears you can temporarily put aside your differences with me for the good of the country," Heller says to Natalie over the phone. "And I to assume your impeachment attempt against me is put on hold, along with your special events?"

"Look at you, President Heller, depending on a crisis like this to buy you a precious few hours in office." Audrey has a look of pure disgust and hatred on her face. Natalie's face is also filled with hatred toward Heller and his party. "And let's not forget that the Democrat Party has pushed for increased regulations of these facilities. And that the policies you've pursued at home and abroad, all the inequalities and social injustices that you've worsened, provoke terrorism and make our country a more dangerous place."

"Why don't we get back to the matter at hand?" Heller snaps, "Hundreds of thousands of American lives are on the line, and I've taken an oath to serve them, even those who didn't vote for me or share my beliefs."

"And I AM questioning your current judgment. What you just ordered will only make it clear to the terrorists that we're onto them and their possible targets. They may move up their timetable."

"I assure you, Natalie," Audrey says, "They are moving toward their timetable as fast as they can. Jones isn't trying to make any demands. He intends to carry out this attack no matter what to make a political statement. The only thing that will satisfy him is mass murder."

"There is another matter that I do need to share with you, Natalie, out of the spirit of cooperation," Heller says as he takes some capsules out of his prescription bottle and takes them with a glass of water. "I have other assets in play in West Virginia following up on a lead, separate from CTU. I have reason to believe there is a leak somewhere in CTU or elsewhere in the government."

"You're talking about Jack Bauer, aren't you? I know about how he founded Vanguard Security and just happens to be working in West Virginia at the moment. Do you have some kind of Starkwood type contract with him. As despicable as Charles Logan was, even he didn't let Bauer run amok unchecked."

"Who my assets are are on a need to know basis, and while I am still President, I've decided you don't need to know that. I do expect you, for the sake of all those innocent American lives, to investigate on your end, and find out where this leak is originating from. We know someone purposely tried to sabotage Jack Bauer's operation in Charleston earlier today, someone with technological expertise and who's very knowledgeable about the current situation."

"I'll do what I can, but frankly, I'd look at CTU." She disconnects the call and dials another number.

MOUNTAIN FARM

In a split screen, several men are beating and kicking a tied up Clay Guthrie. Another screen shows Randy Jones in the farmhouse looking at the TV.

CNB anchor: "…..these roadblocks in the continued search for this man, Randy Jones, and possible associates, who are responsible for today's devastating and tragic events that brought terror and mass murder deep into the heart of Appalachia, anyone with information….." He switches the channel.

NBC News: "was our recap and once again please call the hotline on the screen if you have any information. Up next, the road to the Super Bowl continues in Charlotte tomorrow as the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints.…" He switches it off.

"We're in the clear," Marcus says. "Even if they're suspecting an attack, they putting up those roadblocks thinking we're driving an explosives filled truck into Charleston."

"We did that already today, those people just can't think," Randy replies. He repeat dials a number. In a split screen, Melanie Andrews's phone vibrates, she looks at it and sends a text message over.

SCENIC OVERLOOK

The helicopter makes a low approach over the rural highway and lands in the parking lot of the scenic overlook, taking up a few empty parking spots next to where Jack and Kate's vehicle is.

Andy Kim is the first off the chopper, followed by Rebekah Guthrie and Dwayne Parsons. "Nice to meet you in person, Mr. Bauer," Andy says. "As you might have guessed, my name's Andy Kim. I'm sure you know Rebekah already. Dwayne here is with us."

Jack grabs Andy and slams him against the door of the chopper. He takes out his gun and points it at the Asian man's head. "You're going to tell me exactly what the hell is going on."

"I had no idea my dad was going to be kidnapped!" Rebekah yells, shaken up. "And I've never heard of Randy Jones ever before in my life, but we need to find my dad before he kills him."

"But you knew you yourself would get kidnapped? All of you did?" Kate asks, some surprise in her voice.

"I…I can't explain right now, we don't have time. My father….."

"I'll decide what the priority is!" Jack yells. "How many people died today? For what? What kind of game are you all playing?"

"All I can say now is that I was obtaining intel for my father before his planned speech at the DNC!" Rebekah says, "We have sources in the government saying that Nylund Pharmaceuticals was in bed with pro-abortion extremists and are involved in some sort of malfeasance and cover up. The evidence is to be presented publicly by my father at the DNC, nobody else can be trusted with it! I don't know how that's related to Randy Jones and the terrorist attacks. Jack, you know us, we're not terrorists. We're not working with Jones or trying to kill innocent Americans. We weren't the ones who brought down an entire office building with a bomb."

"How much does your father know?" Jack demands, "Did he set you up for this? What about all that drama between you and him, about how you changed since going off to school in Morgantown? Was that all a sham?"

"I promise you I can explain," Andy says, "But we need to rescue Clay right now. You saw my file. You know Renee Walker trusted me when I worked for the FBI. I helped extract her from Vladimir Laitanan. I was in charge of that operation, I saved her life. So please stop treating me like I'm some kind of terrorist. For Renee Walker's sake, please trust us. We love our country and all of this was about protecting innocent lives. It's not about money either."

"Jack!" Kate shouts, "Maybe they're right and we need to focus on Guthrie before we can get more answers. We both know Jones has a mole somewhere and we can't trust anyone in the government except President Heller and his inner circle."

"So your father actually arranged for you to be kidnapped, and…."

"No I allowed myself to be kidnapped, Jack! I knew they were targeting me. It was a risk I chose to take, that I sold Andy, and then my father on. I was saved two years ago. I kept it a secret from the public for my own safety from the government. I even pretended to still be a liberal and hate my father on the phone because I knew the NSA, FBI, and CIA under the new Congress will be spying on me and listening in on all of my conversations. But you have to believe me, my dad was not supposed to be in danger. We had no idea there was any kind of connection between my kidnappers and Randy Jones. The intel said the kidnappers would demand that Guthrie cancel his speech and withdraw from political involvement in the pro-life movement permanently."

"And you trusted them? God, what were you thinking? Jones is a deranged terrorist mastermind! He was the one who planned this! He has moles and leaks God knows where in the government. That's the REASON I can't trust CTU, the reason CTU doesn't even know I'm here pursuing this lead! "

"Jack!" Kate says, "I know there's still a lot of questions that must be answered but we have a major attack on our hands."

"Jones is planning something else?" Andy asks, shocked.

"Yes," Kate replies. Jack remains silent for now and Kate continues, "The White House and CTU believes Jones and his group of union radicals are planning a terrorist attack against the Kanawha Valley. Everyone within 10 miles of the target will be dead. We believe they're using the Pastor to access the secure servers of Omega Resources and Panhandle Gas, and that the mining and natural gas drilling chemicals and equipment are to be used in this attack. We don't know what their endgame is, and we won't know until we get Pastor Guthrie."

"You know where Brother Guthrie is?" Dwayne asks.

Jack sighs and shows them his PDA. "I injected a tracker chemical into him before he surrendered himself to Jones. He's being held on an abandoned farm a few miles from here."

"Let's move quickly then," Rebekah says.

CTU – CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

A security officer pages Melanie. "Ms. Andrews, you have a visitor, says it's urgent but that it will only be a few minutes."

Melanie sighs and gets up, strutting past Chloe's desk. "I'm going to be real quick, Chloe, please just continue to run the analysis on the Liberty Enterprises factory and the underground cable network."

"Fine," Chloe says, sulking. Melanie goes through the door, following a man in a suit and the marble lobby and steps out into the bright South Carolina sunshine. She emerges on a mid-sized plaza with several flagpoles and a fountain. The man leads Melanie toward a dark car and she gets inside. Mandy is sitting inside.

Mandy still looks similar to when we last saw her except her hair is shorter and she is very professionally dressed, kind of like a powerful businesswoman.

"Do you realize how busy I am, Mandy?" Melanie says. "You know we're operating in crisis mode."

"I just need to remind you of our agreement," Mandy replies. She takes out her phone and on the screen there are two small children, a boy and a girl, tied up in a chair and masked men and women in the living room of a house. Mandy then shows another picture, showing a teenage girl lying dead in a pool of blood, her chest riddled with bullets.

"We decided to find you some new babysitters, given that you're most likely going to be working late today. And obviously we need you to make the right decisions, not ignore my friend's phone call. What happened to the old Melanie I knew at Berkeley? The idealistic young woman who was willing to do anything for what she believed in?"

"You…you promised you wouldn't touch my family if I cooperated and helped you," Melanie shouts, tearing falling down her face.

"They're not harmed yet. But I felt compelled to pay you a visit and remind you of what's at stake for you personally, Melanie," Mandy tells her. "My friends in West Virginia are still waiting to hear from you, and if you're truly that busy, then I suggest you best hurry up."

"What exactly are you planning anyway? CTU has been running around in circles all day trying to find out what's going on. Randy Jones is a terrorist, why are you helping him?"

Mandy gives her a hard look. "Your job is simply to let us know which circles CTU is running around. Your primary concern, Melanie, is your family. I hope we're at least in agreement about that, so please don't disappoint me again."

MOUNTAIN FARM / MOUNT HOPE, WEST VIRGINIA

Clay spits out a broken tooth as the beating continues. Randy comes over and motions for his men to temporarily stop the brutality. He opens up a laptop in front of Clay. "Sooner or later, you're going to enter the password for me, and give me full access."

"I….I don't…." Clay struggles but his resolve seems to be weakening under the influence of the truth serum.

"If it's a memory issue, I'll be glad to help you some more with that," Randy says, taking another syringe off the table and filling it with the drug. "Maybe now remembering a password won't be such a bitch, will it, Pastor?" Randy grabs Clay's arm and is about to inject more drugs.

"Stop! I know it. I'll do it!" Clay stutters.

Randy smiles with a look of victory on his face. "Remember my special ops background. I've been through interrogations before. I know when you're stalling for time, you son of a bitch. So don't play games with me, Clay."

Randy pulls up the screen again and Clay types some codes into it. The computer takes a few seconds to load but the algorithms start working and we see a string of access codes. Randy switches screens and we see a map with the locations of Omega Appalachian Resources and Panhandle Gas's combined facilities following the corporate merger. A split screen shows the main street of Mt. Hope, a depressed coal mining town with shuttered storefronts and traditional company homes visible next to some railroad tracks. Mikhail and Vadim get out of a convoy at an old mine just on the outskirts of Mt. Hope.

Vadim takes a futuristic device and inserts it into the main gate of the closed mining complex, a relatively small underground mine going into a hillside close to the train tracks. The area is deserted with no security. The mercenaries have entered by hacking the electronic gates and have no reached the final door. Vadim and Mikhail use a secure wireless and satellite uplink so Clay Guthrie can remotely access the facility from where he is being held captive. Soon the door beeps and slides open.

Vadim, Mikhail, and the other Russian mercenaries go into a large chamber filled with explosives and charges as well as chemicals used in natural gas fracking. "Hurry up, load the equipment into the trucks and head out!" Mikhail orders his men in Russian.

"Everything is there as expected?" Randy asks.

"Da," Mikhail replies. "We will be at the target in less than an hour. Has Jordan and his men accessed the site yet?"

"He has indeed," Randy says triumphantly, "In a matter of minutes, the promised amount of money will be transferred to your specified Swiss bank account from Omega's Bahamas account. Once I take the satisfaction of finishing up my business with the pastor, I'm going to meet you at the target."

"We need to leave the country as soon as the attack is carried out. Are you sure it's necessary for you to be here."

"All this was my idea," Randy replies, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

CTU

Melanie forces a smile back on her face as she goes back onto the main floor of CTU, then heads for the bathroom. She goes into a stall and takes our her secure cell phone provided by Mandy. We see her send a long text message as her lips quiver and her tears start falling again. Then she texts another number. "CTU TAC TEAM IN HOLLER PROPERTY NOW." Her finger hesitates and a split screen shows the CTU agents in Sissonville combing through Randy's property there, looking through floorboards and searching a basement and some outbuildings. Her finger hovers over the "send" button some more. A split screen shows the terrorists holding Melanie's children hostage in their home. Melanie finally pushes the send button.

MOUNTAIN FARM – BARN

Randy's phone sounds with the text message alert and he reads the message from his CTU mole. He goes to a computer station and punches in some codes. "Lights out, boys."

KELLY'S CREEK HOLLER

We see an underground bomb turn to green. Suddenly there is a massive explosion as four of the structures on the property are blown to smithereens, vaporizing all the CTU agents inside. The CTU agents at the vehicles take cover as the wreckage falls all over the place.

...7:00 PM


	9. Episode 9 : 7 PM - 8 PM

_Author's Note- In regards to the cast, there are several references in the past chapters to their movie performances. Sung Kang is cast as Andy Kim. He plays Han in the Fast and the Furious series and his two followers in the Rebekah rescue are Dwayne and Brian. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appears in Fast Five and Six. Brian O'Connor is Paul Walker's character in that film. One of the Russians is played by Dolph Lungren, and the "We must break him" line is a reference to his character in Rocky 4. _

EPISODE 9

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 7 PM AND 8 PM. EVENTS OCCURS IN REAL TIME

RALEIGH COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

"….this important bulletin, the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch for the following counties in West Virginia: Kanawha, Raleigh, Mingo, McDowell, Nicholas…" Kate lowers the volume of her PDA as Andy and Jack look on.

"We can use that to our advantage," Jack says as their Ford Expedition drives along the two-lane road snaking its way through the mountainous terrain.

"You sure, Jack?" Andy asks.

"He's right," Kate answers for him. "While we don't have set intel on our target, Chloe O'Brian has just informed us the property is owned by Marcus Wells, a union organizer with the National Mine Workers the same time Jones was there. There is most likely an entire army of union thugs guarding the site, even assuming a large number of their forces are on the way to the intended target, whatever they may be."

"We have night vision equipment, body armor and all-weather gear in here," Jack says, "I want to make one thing clear. All of you are now officially employees of Vanguard Security for legal purposes, and I have now officially been contracted by the President of the United States. You will follow my orders, or you will not be involved in this operation, and the commander in chief will be notified. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly, Jack," Andy replies and Dwayne nods.

"Yes, sir," Rebekah says with a funny look on her face and slight hesitation. Kate doesn't respond.

"Just don't expect me to stand down again," Kate says.

"You're pregnant!" Rebekah exclaims, "You need to protect your child. If Jack doesn't want you to go he has my full support. What motivated me today was being saved, and my concern for the life of the unborn. I also WILL NOT approve of you putting your child in danger again."

"Reb, I'm not interested in your personal battles, or your father's, but…." Jack begins.

"If anything this proves there's a larger conspiracy, the pro-abortion extremists, the companies, and Jones. Trust me there's a connection," she says.

"I will trust MY instincts, and our priority is to get your father and stop Jones and the attack. After that I will decide if there's anything else going on. We won't be able to get anywhere with this until your father is safe!" He turns to Kate. "And yes, as grateful as I am for you saving my life back at the house, I won't let you risk your child's life again. You will stay back and run support as necessary."

WHITE HOUSE / RURAL HIGHWAY

"Jack!" President Heller says into the phone, "How close are you to stopping Jones?"

"I'm not sure, Mr. President, but we have Clay Guthrie's location and we believe Jones is personally holding him and interrogating him. He's being held on an abandoned farm owned by one of his union friends in Nicholas County. Some people who claim to be working with Guthrie, including his daughter Rebekah, are with me now."

"And these people can be trusted with the operation? I thought Clay's daughter hated him, the way my son Richard hates me and the things I believe in."

"That was a cover for an operation she was running. She claims she has contacts in the government and that she knew of the plot to kidnap her. She says she allowed herself to be kidnapped as a way of infiltrating a facility owned by Nylund Pharmaceuticals in Morgantown to obtain evidence of a conspiracy involving pro-abortion extremists, Nylund Pharmaceuticals, and elements in the Democrat Party. She thought she was only going to be used to force her father to cancel his appearance at the Myrtle Beach convention, not to obtain access codes to corporate facilities so Randy Jones can launch his terrorist attack."

Heller looks surprised. "What do pro-abortion extremists and an allegedly corrupt pharmaceutical company have to do with anti-capitalist types like Jones? So they fed her false info?"

"I don't think so," Jack says, "At least not purposely. Even these sources don't trust each other and didn't want word of this attack leaking to the wrong people. Maybe even some of them woulda had second thoughts about an attack on this scale. How much does CTU know, Mr. President?"

"They're still in the dark about you, Jack," Heller replies with Audrey listening in on the call with him. "Bailey at CTU are working under the assumption that one of the major chemical factories will be attacked, possibly with the detonation of explosives at or underneath the production units or storage areas. If the Bayer or Liberty Enterprises or DuPont facilities are destroyed, that will release deadly chemicals into the air through a large chunk of Kanawha and Putnam Counties and parts of Jackson and Lincoln. Charleston and South Charleston will be completely devastated with staggering loss of life. I've ordered a no fly zone over the area, and roadblocks on all major roads and highways leading into Charleston. The Kanawha River is also closed to all watercraft between Gauley Bridge and Nitro."

"I'm still short on manpower and I refuse to let Kate Morgan into the field given her pregnant condition, at least not in the main assault." Jack says. "I'm willing to take the risk of notifying CTU once my team is already in position and the attack is under way. I assume the drones are back in operation and one is already over Charleston?"

"Yes, Jack, we have a drone on patrol over Kanawha County as we speak. It's directly above Dunbar and we can divert it to Nicholas County in no time. I can let as few people in the loop as possible until the last possible minute. The analyst in charge of the drones of course is Chris Tanner and he is trustworthy."

"Only him and Bailey if possible," Jack replies.

MOUNTAIN FARM

Randy is waterboarding Clay as the scene opens. Clay is blindfolded with a cloth over his nose and mouth. Randy takes a large jug of water from a faucet and brings it over. He slowly pours it over Clay's face, Clay trying desperately to cough as he chokes on it. A look of satisfaction is apparent on Randy's face.

Randy removes the cloth and kicks Clay hard in the groin and stomach, the pastor doubling over in pain as he spits out large amounts of water. He gasps for breath for a long time as Randy stands over him.

"I told you what you wanted, I accessed the computers for you," Randy says, "Why, in the name of God, what more do you want from me?"

"That? Earlier? That was business, Clay! Now this is just pleasure," he says sadistically.

"Who are you? I at least have the right to know who's killing me," Clay says.

"Well I guess my name's all over the news anyway and you're not making it out of here alive so why the heck. My name's Randy Jones, not that it will mean anything to you."

"You're right, I don't know you, Mr. Jones. I know I have many enemies because of my belief in God and my determination to serve the Lord. I know we have our religious differences, and even if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your Savior despite his willingness to die on the cross for YOUR sins, that is no reason to kill me, my family, or anyone else in whatever attack you have coming. You can still make things right."

Randy scoffs. "You think this is about this new personal relationship with God that you have? I guess the names Brady Jones and Tyler Jones also don't ring a bell?"

"I'm sorry, they don't."

As several armed union thugs watch the scene alertly with their guns drawn, Randy puts the cloth back over Clay's mouth and nose and pours another jug of water down. Then Randy and his thugs give Clay another brutal beating. His face and head is now covered with blood and his nose is broken.

"Of course you don't know me, or my sons. My sons died because of you! Because of your greed! But the little guy, the people whose backs your power and wealth was built on, never matters in the grand scheme of things."

Randy raises his voice, " You think God's going to help you escape your past? You think trying to save these so called unborn children is going to make up for your sins? You think I'm some crazy lunatic? A terrorist? Well let me tell you Clay, I used to fall for the whole American Dream, liberty and justice for all bullshit. I even served in the military, spreading American values to the Muslims and Ukrainians. But where has all that gotten me and my family? I used to work for you, Clay, after I got my discharge from the Army. Omega Appalachian Resources, employee ID 717454, spent years underground in your mines. My sons did too, and their bodies are still inside the Cool Ridge Mine. Happened in YOUR company under YOUR watch, and I doubt you can even name a single one of the men who died that day because of your greed. After all, it's just the cost of business, what's one more dead worker here and there?"

"I am truly sorry about your sons," Clay says, "And I pray that they are in heaven. But torturing and killing me won't bring them back, or change the past."

Randy finishes filling up another pitcher full of water and sets Clay up for another waterboarding session. "I know, but despite what the so called experts say, it _does _make me feel better."

NEBO-3 MINING COMPLEX, 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SUMMERSVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA

A convoy of two big rigs filled with mining explosives and three large tanker trucks make their way to the front gate of an abandoned mining facility consisting of several underground mines and a coal processing plant. The logo of Omega Appalachian Resources is faded but still visible on the gates and guard stations. Jordan, leader of the ex-union thugs now in control of the facility steps into the dimly lit entrance area as the electronic security gates slide open and the convoy comes in.

"I'm assuming everything went as planned?" Jordan asks. In split screens we see that a large number of armed radical socialists are all over the facility.

"_Da, tovarich_. The authorities are focusing their attention on the major highways leading into the city. Nobody is onto us. I will call Clay," Mikhail Vikov tells Jordan, "Once I confirm with my comrades in the Donetsk People's Republic that the payment has been made, we will start unloading the materials and setting up. How long do you think the process will take?"

"Between one and two hours," Jordan replied, "As you can see, this industry can operate quite effectively if the capitalist robber barons would hire enough guys rather than overwork and exploit their limited workforce while others struggle to feed their families."

Mikhail nods and is about to response when Boris says something in Russian.

"Let me see," Mikhail says, looking at their PDA. It shows a transfer of more than $10 million from Omega's offshore account in the Bahamas toward a bank in Zurich, Switzerland.

"I confirmed it with Ivan in Donetsk, they received the payment," Boris tells him.

"Good. Our work here is soon at its end."

"Well we have enough time to get to the airfield? The arrangements are still as planned?" Vadim asks.

"Da," Mikhail says, "We will set up here, keep the perimeter secure and head to the airport where our friends in the American government will have our plane ready."

"Let's get to work," Jordan says.

FARM – OUTER PERIMETER

A deafening clap of thunder is heard in the sky followed by several flashes of lightening basking the entire landscape in a bright light despite the dark clouds in the late afternoon sky. Sheets of rain start falling over the mountains.

"I'm about 10 minutes away from where Guthrie's being held," Jack radios to Heller and Audrey. "We caught a break with this storm. There is one thing though, Kate reported seeing several vehicles filled with armed men leaving the area and we currently don't have satellite coverage of the area."

"And you think Jones might have already on his way out?"

"No, sir. Based on what we know about him he won't likely give up his chance to personally get revenge on Clay Guthrie, in addition to carrying out this attack. Our best bet is to get to Jones and hope to catch him alive."

"I want you to interrogate him any way you can, Jack," Heller says forcefully, "I'm sick and tired of immunity agreements. I want to make sure this bastard pays for everything he's done today and for everything he's planning to do. You think you can break him in time to stop the next attack?"

"It's possible," Jack replies, "Jones's file doesn't show he's had significant training in resisting interrogation despite his military background. At least not MY kind of interrogation," Jack adds darkly.

"I'm counting on you, Jack," Heller says.

FARM – BARN

Randy rips off the gag and lets Clay cough out more of the water.

"You probably think it's been forever," Randy says in a taunting manner. "Think we've been here almost a day now?" He shakes his head, "Actually, it's been less than an hour since we got the fun started."

Clay has a hopeless expression on his face as Randy comes closer.

"So now you know how it feels not being able to breathe!" he says, his voice rising. "I want to make sure you understand, Clay! I want you to know how my sons died! 18 hours, Clay! 18! Trapped in the dark, in the cold, hundreds of feet underground as they slowly suffocated to death. Just so you can add that fancy guest house to your swanky property in the South Hills where you live out your plantation owner fantasy. I want you to know, Clay," he sneers, "That my sons, and every other miner who remains buried below Cool Ridge, and everyone else who died because of the capitalist American system you represent, they're not worthless. They're worth what I've done today. They're worth what I'm about to do with your help, Clay."

"God knows I mourn the death of everyone who died at Cool Ridge. That was one of the hardest days of my life," Clay says. "But you of all people should have understood the impossible situation we were placed in. The war on coal by the federal government. By the people _you _probably support. Limiting coal exports, restricting permits, more and more EPA regulations every year. The industry was on the verge of bankruptcy. We did what we could to salvage the livelihoods of as many of our workers as we could under the circumstances. Tough decisions had to be made. Risks….."

"Risks?" Randy yells in a rage.

"You know my father worked in the mines all his life!" Clay says, "I grew up in these coalfields. And you were in the military. All of us understood the risks. My father did too. He had friends who died in those mines, well before Omega even existed. I know it's no consolation to you but things are better today than when we were growing up. Of course I have regrets, lots of them, but put yourself in my shoes ten years ago. I had the EPA breathing down my neck, it wasn't enough for us to restore the landscape from our surface mining operations, they..."

"You weren't going to go bankrupt," Randy tells him, "You and everyone else in the industry could have adjusted, but obviously that's not how America works. Easy for you to get in that pulpit and preach about how God's bless America. Get Omega Resources, and now Revelations Church's logo on billboards and stadium displays. That's not my reality, Pastor. I don't need to experience this Rapture thing you preach about to know what it's like to be 'left behind'. I live it every day. My family lived it! I gave everything for this country when I served in the Army. Yet this country has taken everything from me! My sons, my wife, my well-being….you people call this God's Country, I..."

Suddenly his phone rings, stopping his rant in mid-sentence.

MARRIOTT HOTEL, MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA

Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti is emerging from a large crowd of Democrat delegates gathered for the DNC and walks down a deserted skybridge connecting the convention facilities with the lobby of the Marriott Hotel. She makes sure that nobody is listening as she hears the phone ring on the other end. Some delegates approach and she walks toward the hotel lobby. Finally the phone is answered and in a split screen we see that it's Randy.

"Randy, we've got a problem. You might not be as in the clear as we thought," Natalie says softly, careful not to attract attention. She walks into a deserted breakfast area in the hotel lobby with nobody around.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"You need to just remain calm and listen to me. CTU is still on a wild goose chase in Charleston thinking you're going mount a direct attack on a chemical factory. But there's something I just heard from Heller a few minutes ago. He has Jack Bauer working independently, possibly along with Kate Morgan, pursuing alternate leads."

"What?" Randy says in shock with a trace of nervousness. "I understand Bauer's company did security for Guthrie but you're saying he has access to intel even CTU doesn't?"

"That's correct. Heller and Bauer both suspect there is a mole. They think it's in CTU. The White House gave Jack Bauer a private security contract with full powers to rescue Clay Guthrie and stop your attack. We don't know for sure that they're on to you but that's a possibility you should be aware of."

"I have a large number of like-minded followers here. If Bauer and Morgan are acting alone, we can handle them. I'll tell my men to be on high alert and make sure our perimeter is secured."

"Just be careful. I've familiarized myself with Bauer's file. Too many have underestimated him in the past. I will arrange for you to leave the country along with our mutual Russian friends," Natalie says.

"That won't be necessary," Randy replies, "This is the end for me. This is how I want to go out. Just make sure my video is delivered to all the media networks after the attack takes place."

"You're a hero, Randy. You understood something I've always believed, that advocating for change isn't enough. Sometimes, change needs to be forced. And I promise you this will not be in vain. There will be more to come if this country doesn't finally wake up."

APPROACHING THE FARM

"Jack," Audrey's voice is heard through the phone, "Chris Tanner has the CTU drones overhead and we have a visual of the farm. I'm sending an image over to your PDA immediately. You should be able to see the positions of the enemy force you're dealing with."

"Thanks, Audrey," Jack tells her, "What is CTU doing to flush out the mole? We can't risk being compromised like this continuously especially in light of the next attack."

"My father says they will be handling it," Audrey says, "But this is the best we have right now. Hopefully this is the endgame. You know, you're the only one we can really count on." She pauses and says sweetly ,"It's always been that way. Jack, just….just take care of yourself okay? We made it this far."

Jack sighs. "I will. Trust me I will get to the bottom of this for both our sakes."

Jack crawls into a clump of trees and sees two armed hostiles on patrol on a path surrounding the farm in their night vision. The terrorists themselves don't have night vision. Jack nods and motions for Andy and Dwayne to follow him. Jack lowers himself near the ground and scans the area with his binoculars. They see several terrorists in an outbuilding getting ready to get into a Jeep. "Dwayne, you're the sniper, make sure you get as many of those sons of bitches as you can. Every man we kill here is one we won't have to deal with later."

OUTER PASTURE, FARM

The sheets of rain continue to sweep across the fields and meadows and another flash of lightning strikes. Jack and his men immediately crouch again. The terrorists look around in the bright lightning. Then the landscape becomes a dark green and gray again amid the thick storm clouds. The wind picks up and the branches on the trees sway violently. "Now!" Jack says.

Dwayne aims the scope on his sniper rifle and shoots one man in the back of the head as he is about to get on the Jeep. Then he fires a shot through the back of the driver's head, blood splattering onto the windows. Three other terrorists are looking around in shock.

Jack and Andy approach the two men patrolling the outer perimeter at the edge of the grassy meadow. They sneak up from behind the men and slit their throats at the same time, then slowly drag the dead bodies into the tall grasses beyond the fence surrounding the farm. A terrorist starts running away from the Jeep and Dwayne takes him down with the sniper rifle. Dwayne shoots again and another terrorist drops down.

"Okay, we got three main buildings," Kate tells all of them in a connected phone call. "Judging from the electronic signatures and datalink signals we believe the main base of their operations is in the barn. Unfortunately we don't have the schematics for the interiors but somehow I doubt it's a bunch of stables and haystacks."

"Same here," Jack says, "Andy cover me as we enter. What about the other two structures?"

"The outbuilding houses several vehicles, from the heat signatures you've taken down most of the guys there. That leaves the main farmhouse, we don't know what's in there but you have two floors plus a basement and attic. It's possible it's been booby-trapped like Jones's property in Sissonville."

"That son of a bitch," Jack says.

The three men advance across the meadow, Dwayne taking cover again in the tall grass and lifting his sniper rifle. Jack sees three more terrorists patrolling on the path. He turns to Andy, whispering loudly amid the howling wind. There is a clash of thunder and a lightning strike hits in the hills just above the farm. The wind picks up and

BARN INTERIOR

"Yes, take cover!" Randy tells his men into the phone, "We're evacuating this area anyway. Heading to the Nebo-3 mining complex, several clicks off Summersville Lake Drive….." Marcus is packing up some equipment in the barn as well.

The terrorist trying to protect himself from the storm motions for his partner to get ready to leave. "Yeah, we know where that is."

Suddenly the lights flicker off as in a split screen we see sparks flying from a transformer at an electric power substation. "Goddamn son of a bitch!" Randy curses.

"I'll get the generator started," one of the terrorists guarding Clay Guthrie says.

"No, we're heading out. They have Jack Bauer looking for us, between him and the storm I don't know which is worse."

"I'll take care of this bastard now," the Marcus says, pointing his gun at Clay. Clay closes his eyes.

"No, not like that," Randy tells him then orders his men, "You two take him outside, I want him buried alive. He's going to die the way my sons did. Leave a team to defend this property, hold back whoever comes. We're taking the alternative route to the mine." The two terrorists smile with sadistic pleasure. Randy goes over and kicks Clay hard in the stomach and head butts him, blood coming out of Clay's nose and forehead now.

"Everything that's happening today is because of you, Clay Guthrie," Randy says to his captive. "Five years ago you turned to God. I turned away from him. That's the truth." He motions toward the laptop that still ran on battery power and displayed the map of Omega Resources and Panhandle Gas facilities. "That's the way. And you're about to see the end of your life."

The two terrorist grabs Clay and drag him toward the outside of the barn and Randy walks toward a Ford pickup truck. There are already several terrorists in the back. Randy gets in the driver's seat and starts the engine.

SPLIT SCREENS

Randy's truck is driving down a narrow gravel lane between two pastures as Marcus sits in the passenger seat, looking outside. The sheets of rain and wind continue to whip the entire landscape and we see a tree branch get blown off and fly through the air. Dwayne is taking aim with his sniper rifle. Kate is sitting in her car. The screen changes into two and we see Jack making his way through the stormy landscape and Heller and Audrey in the White House with their advisors around the Oval Office.

MOUNTAIN FARM

There is another flash of lightning and Jack motions for Andy to get ready as they approach the three terrorists. As the thunder strikes, they open fire and take down all three men. Dwayne sees two armed men standing on the porch of the farmhouse and moves the aim over. He squeezes the trigger. The first man drops in night vision. His partner turns around but sees nothing through the storm. Another bullet from Dwayne's sniper rifle hits him through the heart and takes him out. Dwayne sees movement inside the living room given the commotion. He fires again and that man also drops dead.

RURAL HIGHWAY

Randy's truck cuts through a neighboring property and crashes through a gate. He makes a sharp left heading downhill. We see that the SUV with Kate Morgan and Rebekah Guthrie there is only a mile down the road. Randy takes out his phone. "Come in, you there?" There is no answer, only the howling of the wind.

"Shit, I think Bauer might be closer than I expected!" Randy slams his hand on the steering wheel in frustration and panic. "Jack Bauer isn't even supposed to be around anymore! I should have ordered him killed the moment I learned he was here."

Kate sees the truck approaching down the hill. She quickly dials Jack's phone. "I have a visual on Randy Jones. His vehicle is approaching my position, Jack!"

Jack shoots down another terrorist through the rain. "Hold back, Kate," he says.

"He's coming down the hill, he's heading to his target. I can try to cut off his escape."

Jack is silent. We see he has a pained expression on his face. "How? I told you I don't want you or your child in danger again! Here's what I want you to do, move the vehicle into the middle of the roadway but don't pursue!"

"Roger that."

"Kate, is Clay in the vehicle?"

Kate gets ready to drive the SUV into the roadway. "No, all armed men."

"That means Clay is still somewhere on this property. God I hope he's still alive," Jack says desperately.

"You ready, Reb?" she asks, turning to the young woman next to her

Rebekah nods nervously and checks her own gun.

Kate backs up the SUV so its hidden just off the road in a thicket of overgrowth as the pickup truck comes down the hill, sending walls of water splashing to the side in its path. The headlights come closer. With the pickup bearing down, Kate speeds into the roadway then gets out of the SUV.

"Fuck me!" Randy exclaims as she sees Kate dive to the side of the road. He slams on the brakes and swerves. He hits the edge of the SUV and two of the passenger airbags deploy. The pickup truck skids a long distance sideways into the grass on the other side of the road, then crashes through a stretch of wooden fence. Randy's men open fire with automatic weapons as Kate ducks and takes cover behind some trees.

Rebekah gets back onto the side of the road and takes out her assault rifle, firing at the tires but missing as they squeal and take off. A hail of bullets come from the back of the vehicle. Rebekah ducks and takes cover in the woods next to the road but she quickly gets back and opens fire again at the gunmen. One, then two terrorists scream and fall down off the pickup truck, rolling down on the pavement.

"Let's get her!" Marcus shouts. "Let's kill those bitches!"

"Our priority is the target. The vehicle is disabled, and Bauer must still be behind. Clay should be buried by now."

As if on cue, Kate Morgan gets in the SUV and slams on the accelerator and the damaged vehicle moves forward. In a split screen, Rebekah looks shocked.

"I'll be goddamned!" Randy curses, "Crazy, fucking bitch!" He speeds up too, going through another large puddle. The truck almost hydroplanes but he takes control, then spins through an intersection, entering a larger, paved roadway.

SPLIT SCREENS

"Jack, it's Rebekah, I can't believe it but Kate's in pursuit."

"Dammit!" Jack yells. "Where are you?"

"At the edge of Misty Road a mile from the farm. They're going west on 39, that's Mountain Valley Road, toward Drennan. I just saw them turn."

More split screens show two terrorists making good progress digging Clay's grave as Clay remains handcuffed.

"Rebekah STAY THERE and don't move we'll pick you up when we're done here. Are you safe?"

"Yeah. There are three more hostiles in the Jeep, including Jones. I took out two of them."

"That's my girl," Andy comments.

WV HIGHWAY 39

Both trucks are now going well over 80 mph on the two-lane highway. The entire landscape is grey with the storm having knocked out power to the entire area. Randy sees a souvenir store and a gas station up ahead on the right and he veers of the road with Kate on his tail. The pickup truck tears straight through the wooden building housing the tourist shop, wood pieces flying everywhere. He then narrowly misses the concrete wall of the gas station's convenience store, hitting a pile of windshield wiper fluid and picnic tables, sending them scattering. A driver filling up at the gas pump jumps out of the way and leaps for cover as the truck slams into the back of the small Toyota Camry, crushing its' rear.

Kate's SUV swerves left, going between several gas pumps at 70 mph and sidescrapping two parked cars then continues onto WV-39 west.

"Jack!" Kate calls on the phone, "We're off the highway now, he made a turn into a holler just past the BP gas station in Drennan."

"Dammit Kate back off!" Jack orders.

"I can't, Jack. I can't do that," Kate replies with a determined expression on her face.

The road they are on now is muddy and rocky but they are still speeding through. Twigs and branches are flying everywhere, mixed with the storm. Kate ducks as the surviving gunmen open fire again.

"I got her good now," Randy says. He suddenly makes a left turn and his truck goes into a creek with a splash. He then follows the rocky creek bed, the rising water levels splashing onto the banks.

Kate follows him into the creek but we see that she is uneasy.

"Kate! You have to pull back, your vehicle's not made for that!" Rebekah says into the phone as she stands on the road by the farm.

"But him? He's..."

"He has a souped up Ford F150," Rebekah says, "I might have grown up in South Hills but I'm still a West Virginia girl. I know my trucks and guns. You need to get outta there, he knows the situation and he's trying to trap you."

Randy's truck easily makes its way downstream along the rocky creek, the water halfway up his wheels but all of Kate's SUV's wheels are covered already. He accelerates some more as he approaches a small waterfall ahead heading into some rapids. The waterfall is only 3 feet tall but the truck sails into the air and lands in the water below. The tires squeal some but the truck continues on its way.

Kate slams on her brakes but the SUV also goes over the falls into the churning water below. Kate hits her head on the steering wheel and looks around in dizziness. He slams on the gas pedal but the vehicle is stuck. Randy's truck stops and the terrorists get out, opening fire. A bullet grazes Kate's shoulder and she drops here gun.

The screen splits and we see Kate clutching her arm as the terrorists approach, stepping through the muddy waters of the creek. The men on the farm are now finished digging Clay's grave. Jack and Andy charge into the barn.

BARN

Several terrorists open fire as Jack and Andy enter the barn structure. There are several computer workstation set up inside and an separate section behind a glass wall. Jack turns around and fires several shots with his pistol, shattering the glass and taking down a terrorist.

A terrorist fires from the upper level of the barn and Jack and Andy take cover. Andy opens fire, distracting the terrorist. Jack aims again and shoots him, his body falling down onto the ground below.

CREEK

Kate is now defenseless as her weapon slides down and is washed away by the current. Randy and Marcus walk up to her. Kate does not say anything, but a tear falls from her eye as she touches her belly. Randy pistol whips her and she falls against the stranded SUV, unconscious.

…..7:58…7:59…..8 PM


	10. Episode 10: 8 PM - 9 PM

_Author's Note – Hope y'all enjoy the twist on the part where Jack enlists the help of the two brothers from the sporting goods store in Season 4. When I saw Ron Perlman in the first season of Sons of Anarchy I decided to give him a cameo here. On a side note I read an interview where he says he didn't like the direction the writers of SOA took the character and he wasn't expecting that when he signed up to do the show. Well the cast of "24" knew from the beginning what they were getting themselves into! Liberty Enterprises is a play on Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the West Virginia chemical spill this past winter that cut off the water supply to Charleston for more than a week. _

CAST

Sean Bosworth – Travis McKenna

Ron Perlman – Chuck McKenna

EPISODE 10

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 8 PM AND 9 PM. EVENTS OCCUR IN REAL TIME

CREEK BED

"We don't need her," Marcus says through the sound of the rain pouring onto the leaves of the forest as they wade through the rapid current in the creek below the small waterfall. "The attack is set to happen, how much they know doesn't matter anymore."

"But our friends might find her useful," Randy replies, "Remember we're just part of something bigger."

They grab the unconscious Kate Morgan and drag her along until they get to the pickup truck. They put her in the back seat then drive out of the creek, heading back toward the main highway on a muddy dirt road going through the woods.

MOUNTAIN FARM

The terrorist smiles as the deep hole he and his comrade has just finished digging. He takes one look at Clay, then kicks him in. The two terrorists begin filling in the hole as Clay begs for mercy. There are two silenced gunshots, and the two terrorists fall into the hole dead. Clay gasps and looks up, seeing Jack and Andy right there. "Give me your hand," Jack says.

He helps Clay Guthrie out of the muddy hole and they stand amid the landscape of the farm. The bodies of dead thugs are seen all over. "Good Lord, Jack," Clay breathes.

"You were expecting trouble, weren't you?" Jack says in a dark tone of voice.

"I wouldn't have hired you otherwise," Clay manages to quip despite the circumstances.

Jack is angry now. "This is NOT funny. We were almost killed because of this personal off the books operation you had planned, including your friend Andy here. So you better tell me what the hell is going on."

"Andy got intel from confidential sources in the government saying my daughter would be kidnapped by pro-abortion radicals, and also that Nylund Pharmaceuticals has been involved in shady activities and that she intended to retrieve this evidence to help our cause. None of this was supposed to happen! I don't know who these guys are but obviously they're connected to Nylund Pharmaceuticals and other pro-abortion forces. I just don't know the connection, maybe they cooperated with Jones just to get me out of the way. Jones hates me because of my past. The abortionists hate me because of my present."

"Jack, I know you have lots of questions but we still have an attack on our hands," Andy says. "We need to figure out what Jones's endgame is. Nothing unusual' s been reported at the roadblocks."

"I need to look at the programs they had me access," Clay says, "I should be able to help you."

Jack and Andy lead him back into the barn where the laptops are still running on battery power. "Chloe O'Brian's standing by at CTU if you need any assistance. I trust her with my life."

"You can also trust Chris Tanner," Andy tells Jack, "He discovered the Nylund Pharmaceuticals plot against me."

"And he kept it secret?" Jack demands.

"It was necessary for our operation. He is a good man who believes in what we're doing. But again, given the circumstances, he's not the one you should be concerned about."

"Believe me, he will have a lot to answer for when this is over," Jack says definitively. "What's right or wrong is determined by the laws of this country, what your church believes in is completely irrelevant, Jack."

"C'mon, Jack," Clay replies, "You're the last person on Earth to be lecturing anyone about playing by the rules."

Clay opens the programs back up on the two computers and looks again. "Here, let me take a closer look at the map." On the map we see the Nebo-3 mine highlighted and on another screen we see a list of inventory from Mount Hope.

"That's what was taken from the facility, yes, Mt. Hope," Jack informs him. Clay scrolls through the contents of the file, then looks at the other map showing the Nebo-3 mine.

"There's got to be a mistake," Jack says, "All our intel points to an attack in Charleston or South Charleston, specifically along the industrial part of the river. Jones knew it, that's why he wanted to get Stacy out of Sissonville. Unless there's something I'm missing here…"

"This can't be!" Clay exclaims and Jack looks at him. Clay looks at both screens and gasps. His face then turns white.

"Clay, what is it? Talk to me!" Jack says excitedly.

"This is insane, Jack. It's got to be it though. Look at this list of materials they raided from Mt. Hope. These aren't just regular blasting charges or what have you or even regular explosives. These materials are used in MTR! I mean, mountaintop removal mining!"

"What?" Jack asks in shock.

"If they're moving it to Nebo-3, that's got to be their plan. These materials ,combined with the natural gas fracking chemicals will blast off an entire mountaintop, that kind of power released in Nebo-3. Except in the case of a range as low as Nebo-3, the entire mountain will be demolished." Clay points on the map to a dark expanse to the northeast. "This is Summersville Lake, the dam is right here, but the range where Nebo-3 is located is the only thing separating the lake from the lowlands in the valleys. That's got to be the target. He's going to flood the entire Kanawha Valley!"

"So CTU's been looking in the wrong place this entire time. Charleston's the target, but they're triggering it from here," Jack commented, taken aback by the magnitude of Jones's plot. "I need to speak to the President immediately."

WHITE HOUSE

The President's staff are all gathered around in the White House Situation Room, a high-tech room with several wall-sized display screens. Some of the screens show large maps of southern West Virginia and others have the dossiers on Randy Jones and Marcus Wells. There is also data on the explosives and chemicals stolen from the Mt. Hope facility plus information on the Nebo-3 coal complex.

"Rob, give us your assessment," Heller asks his National Security Advisor.

Rob nods and pulls up the West Virginia map, zooming in on Summersville Lake as well as the Kanawha Valley to the southwest.

"Jack Bauer believes Randy Jones will use the stolen materials to trigger a massive explosion inside the Nebo-3 coal mine in Nicholas County, West Virginia. A detonation of that nature will completely demolish the mountain range the mine is located on. This will result in the entire volume of Summersville Lake being released into the lower Kanawha Valley. Our initial assessments are catastrophic."

"Go on," Heller says, bracing for the estimate.

Rob points to a narrow portion of the valley. "Once the water from Summersville Lake is released by the explosion, the speed of the surge will be accelerated by the narrowing of the Kanawha Valley here at the town of Cabin Creek. When the water hits the Charleston area, it will be traveling at a speed similar to the tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan during the Pacific Ocean earthquake. All of Charleston's East End, including the State Capitol complex will be washed away in addition to downtown, Kanawha City, North Charleston, Marmet, and Belle."

There are grim looks all around the table as he continues, "This includes all three of the major industrial facilities mentioned earlier. The most devastating will be the Liberty Enterprises plant producing the pesticide methyl isocyanate and the DuPont factory, which manufactures phosgene. We're looking at two toxic chemical clouds spreading all across the metropolitan area. Casualty figures range between 20,000 and 35,000 deaths, plus the complete physical destruction of Charleston and its immediate suburbs. The presence of the toxic gases in the air will make rescue operations extremely difficult."

"And one of our own people is doing this?" Heller exclaims, "How do they justify this? We defeat Al-Harazi, and Cheng Zhi just to have to deal with this? Is there no way I can talk to him?"

"Not until Jack gets in position," Novick answers, "Jones hasn't made any demands nor released any statements to the media. If this was about leverage he would have made contact by now. This is about revenge, pure and simple, not just against Clay Guthrie, but against what he perceives to be a corrupt government and corporate system that killed his entire family. He may believe only a statement like this will force the American people to demand the kind of change he desires. Sir, this man is a deranged psychopath, there is no reasoning with him."

CTU SOUTHEAST DIVISION

Aaron Bailey calls the room to attention. "As we know, the entire Tac team was wiped out by an explosion upon entering Jones's property in Sissonville. Right now Jack Bauer remains the only asset in play."

"He doesn't even answer to us," Melanie points out, trying to act like her usual self again despite Mandy's men holding her children hostage in her home.

"But he's working with the President," Bailey stresses. "A few minutes ago we heard from Bauer. He and some unidentified assets of his successfully retrieved Clay Guthrie from a farm where he was being held captive. Jones used Clay to access mining facilities where equipment was stolen. I want a drone over Summersville Lake immediately, the bomb in Sissonville was a diversion."

Chloe is working frantically and is sending more assessments to Jack.

"Chloe, we need the schematics to Nebo-3, make sure we have full cooperation from whoever is in charge of Omega Resources now, and send me all the topographical data from the state DNR," referring to the WV Department of Natural Resources.

"You don't have to waste time stating the obvious," Chloe snaps, then apologies. "Sorry, I'm used to be working in a higher position."

"You should be happy to have a job at all given your history," Melanie reminds her.

"Okay, send all of that to Jack," Bailey orders. "Tanner, how are the drones looking?"

"We have one over Summersville Lake approaching the southern shoreline," he reports, "We're going to go in low."

SPLIT SCREENS

Jack, Andy, and Rebekah are driving quickly, Jack looking at his PDA as they approach the Nebo-3 complex. It shows they are only five miles away but the nearest access point is on an opposite hillside with too many hostiles guarding the facility. There is a sunset of downtown Charleston with floodlights along the Kanawha River by the University of Charleston and the musical pavilion at Haddad Waterfront Park. Heller and his staff are in the Situation Room. Natalie Manchetti is at a reception talking with other delegates. Then we see a full screen of an evening mist enveloping the nearby New River Gorge Bridge, a major state landmark.

LIBERTY ENTERPRISES, SOUTH CHARLESTON

National Guard Major Samuel Pennington is checking aboveground storage tanks and a chemical piping system at the factory. The entire factory is lit up with bright yellow lights and ringed with flashing police lights as well.

"Sir!" a young soldier comes running over, "White House wants to talk to you."

He takes the phone. "This is Major Pennington."

"This is Rob Weiss, National Security Advisor. You are on with the President, Vice President, and Audrey Heller."

"Major," President Heller says without preamble, "What sources do you have around Summersville?"

"Summersville? None at the moment. All our resources have been devoted to the urban area."

"Our newest, most credible intel reveals Jones's plan is flood the valley by destroying a mountain on the south shore of Summersville lake, between Fayetteville and the town of Drennan. How fast can you get a team there?"

"Forty minutes, Mr. President," Major Pennington replies, "We will head out immediately, sir."

"Do that, and stay on this line for further updates. You will also be patched through with Jack Bauer who is working under my authority. You are to coordinate with him, but once you reach your target area, your rules of engagement are to shoot first and ask questions later."

"Yes, sir, Mr. President, understood."

Pennington radios all of his men. "We're moving out, rendezvous in the south lot of the facility. We're heading to a new target, y'all will be briefed on the way."

ONE MILE FROM THE NEBO-3 MINING COMPLEX

The bright industrial style lighting of the complex is visible above the ridgeline as Jack, Andy, Rebekah and Dwayne approach. They can hear a drone flying overhead and it is sending them images of the mining complex though there is obviously no imaging of the underground portion. The rain is falling away but the sky is now a bright orange and purple as the sun begins to sink toward the mountains to the west.

"You think they have Kate here?" Rebekah asks in a concerned voice.

"That's very likely," Jack replies, "We do know that Jones's pickup truck just entered the complex a minute ago, CTU is going to magnify the images taken by our drones."

"Jack, this is Chloe," she says from her desk at CTU, "The drone also picked up three carloads of reinforcements heading into the hills, they've been picked up on US 19 crossing the New River Gorge Bridge. They'll be in your area in twenty minutes.

"Okay," Jack briefs them, "We have a team inside the mine making final preparations for the explosive with a large number of hostiles outside in the industrial area. Looks like they're pumping the chemicals into the mine using the power supply from the old coal processing plant. Unfortunately the power's back on in this area."

Suddenly several gunshots ring out and they see tracers going all over the group.

"Y'all don't move an inch!" a gruff male voice shouts out. Several more warning shots are fired. Jack and Andy turn around and see two dark, shadowy figures emerging through the fog that is beginning to form after the storm.

"Put your hands in the air NOW where we can see 'em! I ain't joking!"

Andy reaches for his gun but Jack motions for him to stop.

A young man and an older man emerge from the woods. "Y'all will explain to me what the hell you're doing on my property while I get the sheriff here," the older man says. He is dressed in cammo pants, a baseball cap, and has a large rebel flag tattooed on his arm.

"I can explain," Jack says, "I'm putting down my weapon, okay?"

"Please do, boy. Cause you probably didn't see the signs posted on the fence you probably cut through. One says beware of owner. Other one says I stand my ground."

"We didn't realize we were on private property and the military is on their way here. My name is Jack Bauer, I'm working for the President of the United States we are on a time-sensitive mission, this is not about you, sir."

"You sure about that boy?" the old man challenges him. "There's a reason I live out here, to not be bothered by the likes of you. Here, on my land, it's huntin' season for everything all year round! I answer to God above, and nobody else. Certainly not you government people!"

"Sir, this man speaks the truth," Clay Guthrie speaks up.

"You…..you're Brother Guthrie. What are you doing here?" the man says as his son keeps watch. The man is softening up a little and looks like he's in shock.

"It's a long story but I'm not going to encroach on a man's yard with no reason or no explanation. This is the quickest access point to the Nebo-3 mine, no point in keeping this a secret anymore, this has to do with the people responsible for today's attacks. Who also tried to kill me twice today. They're armed with explosives and if we don't get through all this will be gone, everything from here to Charleston."

"Randy Jones is here?"

"You know him?" Andy asks.

"Course, everyone around here's heard of him and his union goons," the son says, "They're the ones that got the fucking union started. Bunch of goons I tell you, they'd harass those of us who refused to join, even vandalize our properties and harass our family members. I'm a miner. Most of us just want to go out and make an honest living, provide for our families, those union thugs come down here with their wacko friends stirring up trouble where there need not be, makin' life difficult for all us normal people."

"I know the shortcut through these woods," the old man says. "My name's Chuck McKenna, this here is my son Travis. Obviously you need some backup. I can tell y'all don't trust the rest of the government either. Can't blame you. In any case we're coming with you whether y'all like it or not."

Jack hesitates but relents. "Well this is your land, can't tell a man what to do on his property. We'll fill you in on what's going on. Sir are you sure you can take care of yourselves."

"We're sure," Travis replies. "If we weren't in a good mood tonight, y'all be dead by now."

SPLIT SCREENS

The National Guard helicopters lift off from the brightly-lit industrial facility as the lights of Charleston are starting to come on in the sunset. Jack and his team approach the mining complex. Randy Jones is inside the mine checking the fuses and chemicals and radioing more instructions to his men at the industrial facility above ground. Melanie Andrews excuses herself and goes into a an empty balcony down the hall at CTU.

DNC- MYRTLE BEACH CONVENTION CENTER

Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti walks onto the stage as angry protest music plays, then the music stops as she reaches the dais. The MC finishes his introduction.

"And yes, the woman who has done so much to move our party forward, the seven-term Congresswoman Natalie Manchetti of New Jersey's 6th Congressional District!"

There is thundering applause as Manchetti takes the stage. The banner "Time For Change, Recreating America" is displayed prominently behind her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, we came here today in the name of equality, progress, and social justice. To make the long-awaited changes to a health care law that despite all of its successes, still fell short in protecting women's health and our control over our own bodies, and neglected to protect some of the most vulnerable individuals in American society. We had hoped for a debate that, of course, we will win, just like our representatives have appeared on the likes of Hannity and the Kelly File and defeated the conservatives and Republicans on their own turf."

Cheers ring out with delegates and attendees calling out her name. "We love you Natalie!" several people shout. "Change! Change! Change!"

"Heller go to hell!" several members of the groups shout.

"However, events in this country today, and the delay in Pastor Clay Guthrie's arrival today have delayed, but not prevented the inevitable. This is a debate that must take place. This is battle between the America of the past, and the America of the future. An America of narrow mindedness, oppression, backwardness, or a new America we can be proud of...…"

CTU BALCONY

Melanie steps into the sunset and takes out her phone.

"Mandy, I think they're suspecting a mole here, they don't trust us and have been keeping from us. Jack Bauer says they're approaching the Nebo-3 mine, he thinks that's where the attack will take place."

We see Mandy in a dark room somewhere. "Good, though I'm disappointed it took you this long to get back to me."

"You must understand the difficult situation I'm in," Melanie tells her. "And sooner or later Bailey's going to check all of our phones, track all of our communications. I don't know how long I can keep this up."

"Think about your children, Melanie," Mandy says, "You'll find a way."

"I'm doing my best to cooperate with you. I helped kill those CTU agents in Sissonville. You know I'm doing everything you've asked me to."

"I've given you more than one secure phone, Melanie," Mandy tells her, "You will remain in place and keep reporting to me as long as the operation is active."

"It's going to be over soon!" Melanie says, "Heller has the National Guard heading to the mine now. He doesn't care because he's being impeached anyway. He and Audrey's personal connections with Jack Bauer, he won't let any harm come to him."

"Just use the resources I've provided you. And this operation won't be over anytime soon."

MAIN STAGE, DEMOCRAT NATIONAL CONVENTION

Congresswoman Manchetti continues to speak. "Tonight, however, we handle the emergency leadership crisis that has emerged from the Heller White House, the abuse of presidential power, the overreaction to the tragedies that occurred today in West Virginia and Kentucky. Never since Charles Logan and Hal Gardener has a president acted in such an irresponsible fashion in response to a crisis. For all intents and purposes, Heller has declared a military curfew for several counties in West Virginia, using as a pretext his search for the individuals responsible for today's terrorist attacks. The drones that have flown uninvited over the skies of the United Kingdom and our other European allies are now flying over our towns and cities. Even after the tragic deaths of over two hundred innocent civilians at St. Andrew's Hospital and elsewhere in London, his irresponsible and risky drone program has continued. This is a testament to Heller's endless militarism….'

NEBO-3 MINE

Jack comes across the first perimeter patrol around the mine, which is surrounded by its own fence. "It's possible there's an alarm attached to the fence," Jack says, "We need to take positions around the facility, take out as many hostiles as we can before we make the main assault. Ready?"

Every man and woman on the team nods. "And remember, be on the lookout for Kate Morgan. They might have her captive here."

Travis and Chuck take up positions on the west, while Jack and Andy and Dwayne are in the middle, with Clay and Rebekah in the east where there are the fewest hostiles.

"I'm going to draw their fire," Chuck says, "Best I can do with my gun." He is holding an AK-47 assault rifle while his son has a Uzi. "Aren't y'all glad we have the Second Amendment?"

Chuck and Travis aim at three hostiles on a platform towering over the coal processing plant and several taking positions on a conveyer belt. They hide behind some leaves and make sure their aim is straight. The two men let out a heavy barrage of bullets and within five seconds, ten terrorists lay dead.

Clay also takes his assault rifle and fires, shooting down two terrorists on the ground and sees a vehicle approaching. "Chuck, Travis, take out that vehicle when you can!"

The sudden sound of automatic weapons fire piercing the evening quiet alerted every hostile in the area. They all trained their weapons on the hillside where Chuck and Travis are firing from but the father and son are already in a different position. More than a dozen assault rifles open up, muzzles flashing in the darkening mist.

"Motherfucker!" Clay yells, hiding behind a control panel, then going into the facility.

Mounds of dirt are lifted by the gunfire in the position where Chuck and Travis had been. Suddenly, silenced gunshots ring out as Jack, Andy, and the rest of the team all fire precise shots into the gunmen. "Sir, we need to…." A hostile is saying as they go inside the facility. The man is killed in mid-sentence.

Chuck opens fire on the approaching vehicle, a car with several terrorists. A few rounds into the engine block disables the vehicles and the terrorists pour out firing. Rebekah squeezes the trigger on her sniper rifle and shoots the first man dead. Two others are rolling around the ground. Rebekah fires again and takes one of them out, while Jack kills the other. The team is now coming down the hillside.

"Check in," Jack orders.

"Copy," Travis says. "

"We're here," Clay replies too, next to Rebekah now.

Jack goes to the fallen body of one of Randy's men and radios him, patching him through to the President.

DEMOCRAT NATIONAL CONVENTION

"We therefore announce a recess to this conference initially scheduled events until tomorrow morning at 7 AM, as we instead pursue emergency impeachment proceedings against James Heller, Audrey Heller, and Mike Novick."

There is whooping and hollering all over the convention. Pandemonium breaks out as one attendee after another curses James Heller with profanity from multiple languages, and use sexist terms against Audrey. The actual convention delegates do not participate in the heckling, maintaining the image of respectability, but do nothing to discourage the other regular attendees.

Manchetti motions for Speaker Joseph O'Malley to stand up and start reading the terms of impeachment against James Heller.

MINING COMPLEX

Randy fires a new burst in the direction of Jack Bauer then runs back toward the mine. His phone rings.

"Randy Jones, this is Jack Bauer, I'm sure you know who I am by now. This is over!"

"Like hell it's over!" Randy screams, firing more shots. "Marcus! Detonate the explosives now."

"I'm not sure it's fully prepped yet, we're running final checks," Marcus replies frantically going down a room full of pipes and electrical firing. There is a window and outside is a pile of unprocessed coal.

"Just get it set up and detonate it!"

COAL WASH PLANT, NEBO-3

"Take up positions inside the plant!" Randy radios all of his men, cutting off Jack. "We need to hold them off until the detonation."

Jack scans the area with his binoculars. "Looks like all the remaining hostiles are retreating into the plant. We believe Jones is in there. CTU's drones don't have the arsenal to take care of this. Jones seems to be making final preparations for the detonation. Put me through to the military."

"Major Pennington, this is Jack Bauer, how far out are you? Are you within striking distance?"

"What about Kate? She could be in there!" Rebekah yells at Jack. "What if she's still alive and Randy has her as a hostage?"

Jack sighs. "That's a risk we have to take. If Randy detonates the mine, all of us die, and all of Charleston is destroyed. We can't take that risk."

"She saved your LIFE!" Rebekah screams, "Her and her child. I can't believe I'm hearing this."

Jack ignores her as the others look on. Rebekah is crying now. "We need to go in…"

AIRBORNE OVER HAWKS NEST

The National Guard helicopters are now flying over the Kanawha Falls and approaching Hawks Nest State Park, one of the famous scenic sites of southern West Virginia. "This is Bauer again, Major do you have weapons armed? We believe Randy Jones has barricaded himself in a coal wash plant adjacent to the underground mine. We need that facility taken out. Most likely he has the detonator inside."

"We're an assault team, we need fighters," Pennington said. "I can call Yeager, have them send….."

"DO IT NOW!" Jack orders. "We're running out of time!"

"Yes, sir," Pennington responds.

NATIONAL GUARD BASE, CHARLESTON YEAGER AIRPORT

"Attention flight team four, this is an emergency. Prepare to board aircraft immediately!" the military radio control officer says from the joint military-civilian control tower at Yeager Airport.

"Confirm orders, authentication code niner seven six alpha delta omega," the radio operator says.

"Confirmed. This comes straight down the chain of command, from the White House directly. The Joint Chiefs are standing by in the Pentagon as we speak."

We see several airmen in a hangar running to the flight line and getting into a pair of already fueled F-16 Fighting Falcon jets.

COAL WASH PLANT

"We need the plant destroyed," Jack says, "We need to make sure the device is destroyed and Jones's entire team is wiped out. We can't risk the lives of tens of thousands of people. All this will be gone anyway once Jones detonates the chemicals."

"I can't believe we're risking Kate being there," Rebekah cries, "She's a good person. She don't deserve this."

"I'm going in after her to see if she's there. Keep me updated."

"That's suicide," Andy points out, "We need to get out of here, get back to the perimeter."

"I'll go in and do my best to find Kate before the airstrike hits."

"I'm coming with you," Rebekah says. Jack can see it's her adrenaline talking more than her mind.

YEAGER AIR BASE, CHARLESTON

"Flight leader, this is Yeager Tower, you are cleared to takeoff on Runway 01."

"Roger that, tower."

The first F-16 races down the runway at top speed and lifts up at the edge of the runway which ends at a deep embankment overlooking the Big Chimney area and Charleston's Edgewood neighborhood, heading into the deep purple sunset.

"Echo 3, you are cleared for takeoff, and Godspeed."

"Roger tower."

The two F-16s take off to the west but make a sharp turn over Elkview's smattering of travelers services and scattered suburban homes and head east toward the Summersville area.

"Yeager tower, this is Flight Leader, confirm target coordinates 38 North, 80 West," the lead fighter pilot says in a pronounced Southern accent.

"Target confirmed, proceed as planned. Flight, what is your ETA?"

"ETA nine minutes."

…...8:58...8:59...9 PM


End file.
